bagheera_san (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bagheera_san) wrote2013-11-12 12:40 pm
bagheera_san) wrote2013-11-12 12:40 pm
Amsterdam
I wanted to write a post about this yesterday, but since the German train system fucked up completely on my way home (as it usually does) I got home past midnight on Sunday and was extremely lazy/tired yesterday.
But: I spent the weekend in Amsterdam withx_los and aralias. Amsterdam is great (somewhere in my top 5 cities, I think) and seeing Katy and Erin again was even better. The reason we met in Amsterdam was an academic conference, the European Fandom and Fan Studies Conference. This was the first time I participated with a paper and a presentation and everything - I have been to conferences in Heidelberg a lot, but only as a helper/TA/visitor. But I'm now officially a PhD student! So that was exciting, and I have to thank Erin for pointing me at this conference. It was small enough to not be scary, but the people there (all of them fans in some way, although there were people talking about music and sports fandom as well as media fandom, so this was both like an academic conference and like a convention - I mean, these two types of event are always pretty similar, but this was explicitly so) were really interesting and nice and I met a German postdoc who will soon move to Mannheim, so we might stay in contact. I'm always a little anxious about choosing academia as a career, but right now I think it's the right choice :)
Amsterdam, as I said, is lovely, even in November and even if you don't do drugs (which we didn't). I think I shall go back at some point. And I talked so much about fandom this weekend that I'm really eager to get back into it now - I want to write things, but I'd also love to talk to people more. But which fandom? I'm really out of love with DW, even though I have somehow agreed to a maybe-date for the 50th anniversary which means I'm going to see an episode in cinema even though I'm pretty much guaranteed to be annoyed by it. I wish I could magically resurrect some nineties fandoms - I could really get into X-Files or Deep Space Nine right now, seeing as I'm doing complete rewatches of them with my RP group. I could get into Tatort, but that's a German fandom and if my paper on German fandom taught me anything then it's this: there's a reason I emigrated. I'm probably going to look into Blake's 7 since I heard so much about it this weekend (and got to look at and touch some genuine zines) and I'll see Thor some time this week, maybe even tonight.
Anyway - I'll probably be less busy in the upcoming months than I was last year. My exams are done, I have a regular job as a secretary/research assistant, and although I'll be working on my thesis, I think there'll be enough time to do other stuff as well!
But: I spent the weekend in Amsterdam with
x_los and aralias. Amsterdam is great (somewhere in my top 5 cities, I think) and seeing Katy and Erin again was even better. The reason we met in Amsterdam was an academic conference, the European Fandom and Fan Studies Conference. This was the first time I participated with a paper and a presentation and everything - I have been to conferences in Heidelberg a lot, but only as a helper/TA/visitor. But I'm now officially a PhD student! So that was exciting, and I have to thank Erin for pointing me at this conference. It was small enough to not be scary, but the people there (all of them fans in some way, although there were people talking about music and sports fandom as well as media fandom, so this was both like an academic conference and like a convention - I mean, these two types of event are always pretty similar, but this was explicitly so) were really interesting and nice and I met a German postdoc who will soon move to Mannheim, so we might stay in contact. I'm always a little anxious about choosing academia as a career, but right now I think it's the right choice :)Amsterdam, as I said, is lovely, even in November and even if you don't do drugs (which we didn't). I think I shall go back at some point. And I talked so much about fandom this weekend that I'm really eager to get back into it now - I want to write things, but I'd also love to talk to people more. But which fandom? I'm really out of love with DW, even though I have somehow agreed to a maybe-date for the 50th anniversary which means I'm going to see an episode in cinema even though I'm pretty much guaranteed to be annoyed by it. I wish I could magically resurrect some nineties fandoms - I could really get into X-Files or Deep Space Nine right now, seeing as I'm doing complete rewatches of them with my RP group. I could get into Tatort, but that's a German fandom and if my paper on German fandom taught me anything then it's this: there's a reason I emigrated. I'm probably going to look into Blake's 7 since I heard so much about it this weekend (and got to look at and touch some genuine zines) and I'll see Thor some time this week, maybe even tonight.
Anyway - I'll probably be less busy in the upcoming months than I was last year. My exams are done, I have a regular job as a secretary/research assistant, and although I'll be working on my thesis, I think there'll be enough time to do other stuff as well!
no subject
this is a nice post :) and it was very nice to see you.
i am planning to write a very similar thing only with more dodgy and out of focus pictures of not much. photography is not my secret skill. i also thought amsterdam was a very nice city to visit in november. although next time i will bring an umbrella...
re - fandoms:
not by magic, but you can force people to be in old fandoms with you, studies show. as long as you don't want too many people ;) there are probably people hanging around, and all you need to do is be very very enthusiastic and start up small fests and stuff, and then - there is a fandom. sort of. it's very nice, anyway, my small fandom. i enjoy it.
also - obviously, we would definitely welcome you, if you watch and like blake. they took it down from youtube, but it's on dailymotion. you just have to stagger through the ads, which is very annoying, but i think the firefox ad blocker works for that...
do still recommend starting with seek locate destroy generally, but i also think you would be really interested in the first episode, which is all dark and grim and weird and mostly not about most of the main characters. and i think you might enjoy the unfolding of the story, so... i don't not recommend starting with the way back (episode 1), but it is a very odd first episode for this show, which is mostly not like this.
p.s. i am listening to gallifrey series 5 RIGHT NOW.
p.p.s. i meant to ask you how you found glass prison. (also remind me to send you love and war when i am at home).
no subject
Glass Prison was good, although the pregnancy stuff was a bit too much for me... I really liked the last couple of pages with Benny getting home and the sort-of-christening ceremony and all that. What happens to the friends Benny makes in prison, though? I don't remember them from any other books/audios, but they might have been in Life During War (since I wouldn't have recognized them, I'd have forgotten them instantly...)
Looking forward to your Gallifrey 5 reactions! ;)