Fandom Meme

And the fandom meme that's been going around. Since it's year-end I should have gotten to it sooner, but I've been busy getting up chapter 8 of The Case of the Broken Ties.


Year-End Fandom Meme
1. Your main fandom of the year:
I'm not sure what to say. I played in the Monkees, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and West Side Story fandoms around the first half of the year and Perry Mason for the rest of the year. Although I'm still writing for all of them. Chronologically speaking, however, I suppose I've been with Perry the longest. Also, I discovered The Wild Wild West, a show I've long wanted to watch and am nuts about. I'm not really involved in the fandom, however.

2. Your favorite Film this year:
... I didn't watch any films in the theatre, so I'm not sure what to put. My favorite film that I watched in the past year would be something old. But I'm honestly not sure which film gets the nod. Maybe it's a toss-up between The Persuader and One Minute to Zero. Both are intense dramas in which William Talman has starring roles. I love the man. I also greatly enjoyed Bullit. The police procedural plot highly intrigued me and Simon Oakland was just wonderful as the police captain.

3. Your favorite Book read this year:
I am so terrible at reading lately. I have many wonderful books that I still haven't finished or got to at all yet. Let's see ... my favorite was probably either Altered State by Gregg Luke (a thriller involving mind control) or Final Act by C. Paul Andersen (a thriller involving a big old house and a dark family secret; it reads like a Daphne Du Maurier novel and is every bit as amazing).

4. Your favorite Album or Song this year:
I probably played the heck out of the West Side Story soundtrack the most. The music is just so much fun. It's one of the only musicals I really like.

I'm also very thrilled with Evanescence's new, self-titled album and Jackie Evancho's Christmas album. Jackie is the latest in a line of young classical stars whose career I am eagerly following.

As for one specific song, I'm really not sure. I don't think I played one particular song more than any other. Except perhaps A New York Christmas by Matchbox 20, as I wrote my annual Christmas fic. And Gee, Officer Krupke from the West Side Story soundtrack. I love it. I even wrote a parody involving this conceited nut pleading for Mr. Burger, a judge, a psychiatrist, and Lieutenant Schrank to listen to him. (If anyone wants to see those screwy lyrics, let me know and I'll type them up.)

5. Your favorite TV Show this year:
Perry Mason.

6. Your favorite Community this year:
I'm not sure. Most of the fandoms I've been playing in this year don't have very active journal communities.

7. Your best new Fandom Discovery of the Year?
That Perry Mason season 2, 6, 7, and 8 have many, many wonderful friendship scenes between Perry and Hamilton. I've seen a lot of those episodes in the past, especially from 2 and 6, but I didn't know what seasons they were from. Nor did I know the overall ratio of episodes with those scenes.

Also, I would count The Wild Wild West as a runner-up discovery. It's just amazing! It has everything I want in a series: friendship, hurt/comfort, suspense, crime-fighting, good-looking men....

8. Your biggest Fandom Disappointment of the Year?

... Probably that I've had a very difficult time getting people to believe me when I talk about certain things in Perry Mason being out-of-character at particular points in the series' timeline. If that was all it was I wouldn't care so much, but I feel like some people think I'm an idiot for feeling that way. And that makes me quite unhappy.

9. Your favorite TV Boy of the year:

... Gosh, I don't know. "Boy" implies someone rather young, and I've mostly spent the past year crushing on guys in their forties.

I did have another Monkees phase near the beginning of the year, so I guess I'll put Micky. I just love him, especially in season 1 when he's intelligent, sarcastic, hilarious, and generally brave and unselfish. Season 2 Micky and his cowardice and stupidity just makes me cringe so bad.

10. Your favorite TV Girl of the year:

This one's even harder to pick. My favorites are really more women than girls.

Would the Monk women qualify under girls? Natalie's grown on me a lot, although I really don't know that I could ever say I like her more than Sharona. Natalie is a little too perky sometimes for my tastes.

11. Your biggest Squee moment of the year?

Just one? There were so many: When I saw Tony worried about Kolchak in The Energy Eater and The Trevi Collection, when I started watching Perry Mason again and realized just how many wonderful friendship scenes there are between Perry and Hamilton.... I have a big squee every time I find one. Each scene I find seems to top the previous one in its level of awesomeness.

12. Your most Missed Old Fandom?

I don't know. I miss getting the amount of reviews and interest I used to get on my old Yu-Gi-Oh! mysteries. Even when I return to the fandom again and again, I can't recapture that. The audiences are still there, but I can't seem to pack them in the way I used to do.

13. Your Fandom that you haven't Tried Yet, but want to?

That ... recent magical girls show whose name keeps escaping me.

14. Your Biggest Anticipations of the New Year?

Writing fanfiction for my favorite series and hopefully being able to record seasons 7 and 8 episodes of Perry Mason. (Our station is skipping most of those and starting over this month. Aurgh!)

Gee, Mr. Burger

Okay, here's that silly Gee, Officer Krupke parody I wrote. I'm very proud of these silly lyrics; I thought a long time about how to keep the flavor of the original song while adapting it to what I wanted. I kept a scant few of the original lyrics when they fit the situation.

I should explain first: the conceited nut the fuss is all about is an original character of mine. He started out as me just role-playing Don Karnage from Disney's Talespin, but he ended up so different years later that I decided he was no longer that character but someone else altogether. And he became my own character. He's still called Karnage, but if I ever do anything nationally with him, of course he'd be called something else. I have another name all in readiness, just in case. And this Karnage is an anthropomorphic Alaskan Malamute instead of a ... whatever Don Karnage is. (I insist he's a fox, but the comic said he's a wolf.)

I find conceited behavior repulsive when taken seriously, but as a gag it's one of the things I find funnier than just about anything else. I kept pushing the limits with this guy in my role-plays with Mom. He's just about as outrageous as you could get. When something goes wrong, like losing a piece of fur, he goes into these states where he just screams "Me, me, me" until the problem is solved. He joined the Army and was under the command of General Stilton from Disney's The Cat From Outer Space. And Corporal Klinger from M*A*S*H became his best friend. (The time period for the role-play is the present day, and we liberally throw in characters from all eras, although in the role-play they haven't time-traveled or anything like that; they just live in the present day and that's the way it's always been.) I don't think Karnage is still in the Army, though. He met Hamilton Burger when he barged into court one day, took the witness stand, and said in all sincerity, "I solemnly swear that I'm glorious." He was promptly charged with contempt of court and kept on racking up the charges when he wouldn't shut up. Hamilton prosecuted and this song came out of the silliness.

EDIT: I've thought for a long time that I should add spoken dialogue between each verse, just like the real song has. I've added some in.


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