Why do you guys want to stop this total smokeshow*?
*That's relatively new slang (at least for me) for a hot guy. I think it has gay vibes to it but it's a fun saying
Justin had curly hair when he was younger, and in his early years in Parliament when he was no more than the Honourable Member from Papineau (the riding he represents; he went from backbencher to party leader).
He had a beard and moustache for awhile in Parliament while still a backbencher (it wasn't grey) and it looked ridiculous. I don't know why he's chosen to try again, but at least it's been awhile since I've seen the references to "Junior" and "trust fund kid" in the CBC comment pages.
Back during the state visit, Obama told Trudeau that he'd go grey while in office. Looks like he's getting there.
I don't understand shipping as a general idea, but I especially don't understand the popular ships that emerge in fandoms. Like, if I were to somehow spend my time imagining fictional characters getting together, why would I think about Hermione and Draco? Why would I think about Rey and Kylo? Why would I think about Korra and Asami? All of these just don't work. They're bad. What fulfillment is there? What itch is being scratched? I don't get it.
It's not even something I can dismiss as a "teenage girl" thing, since fully grown adults do it too. I'm just baffled by it. What's the point? What's the gain? Why them?
I kind of struggle to not see it as creepy, despite being so widespread and accepted. I fundamentally don't understand. I can see it's a thing, but I simply cannot grasp the whys and hows of it.
Shipping is sending freight, parcels, or correspondence. The word you're looking for is
'shipping (short for worshiping). If I were to say "I 'ship Gabrielle and Iolaus," (from
Xena: Warrior Princess and
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) it means I think they'd make a cute couple, and no doubt there are plenty of stories that do have them becoming a couple. Naturally most Xena fanfic is Xena/Gabrielle, but there are some pretty odd combinations.
The weirdest Star Trek pairing I've ever seen is Seven of Nine/Samantha Wildman. It's crazy, but the author made it work.
They're make-believe. If it's sex, sometimes sexy is sexy because it's taboo. If it's relationship building, building communities and networks is fun. Why do people make guilds in MMOs? I dunno, no interest. But it makes sense. Why do people set up their friends with each other? Might as well pretend
set up your pretend friends, no?
Exactly. It's pretend, and people do it for many reasons. Not one of my Star Trek stories has ever come out as a straightforward adventure story. They always take a turn into comedy, parody, satire... and so at some point I will tackle the goofy notion I had to do a Voyager musical that's a loose crossover with the Guys and Dolls musical (I worked on a theatre production of
Guys and Dolls 40 years ago). I can totally see Seven of Nine and B'Elanna arm in arm, singing "Marry the man today, and change his ways... tomorrow!" (in reference to Chakotay and Tom). I've mentioned this to one of the fanfic authors at fanfiction.net, and she encouraged me to go for it. That was several years ago, though; I haven't done anything with it yet.
Anyone here who is a Voyager fan who wants straightforward adventure stories should check out the series by Alpha Flyer (the author) who has written a series of post-Endgame stories featuring Tom Paris as the captain of his own ship. It's Voyager, with a dash of TNG, with a TOS adventure feel to it - many of the situations Captain Paris is involved in involve the Orions and Andorians.
Oh. Yes. Please. I mostly don't bother with fanfic for two reasons:
1) The quality is horrendous in at least 95% of it.
2) The remaining 5% seems solely focused on fulfilling the author's romantic/sexual fantasies.
*sigh*
Remember that writing contest you ran at IALS, that I won? It was a vignette from my Hulzein Saga fanfic. There was no 'shipping; it was simply a scene I wrote from the point of view of a character I thought had been written out too soon by the original author and therefore his main character never had to deal with the consequences of his actions involving the character I wrote about. I wrote it because I thought F.M. Busby ignored a
great plot hook, and in my own project, the characters' actions are going to come home to roost. So no romantic/sexual fantasies, either on my part or my characters' parts. And if it was "horrendous"... it wouldn't have received decent votes, would it? I'd hope everyone who voted was being honest about what they thought of the story...
That said, there is a lot of horrendous fanfic. But there's also a lot of really good stuff, stories as good as, or better than, professionally-published or produced material.
While there's time to now talk extensively to people, I notice that we might be running out of things to talk about soon
.
If people would get their noses out of their phones, they might find a lot of things to talk about.
Rant: I hadn't realized how so many episodes in the final season of Xena: Warrior Princess took place in the 20th century. They'd really run out of ideas by then.
Don't encroach on my turf!
