fray-adjacent

snowflake_challenge Day 3:

In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

1. goodbyebird iconned Xena: Warrior Princess! I have heart-eyes for these and will be grabbing some if/when I get my paid account back*.

2. I love maariamph's adult!Steven fanart. Favourites: watering plants; charging on lion; hanging out with Connie.

3. restfield's amazing Drusilla manip.

*I'm planning to re-purchase my paid account once I get back in the habit of posting regularly. Please don't take this as a subtle hint that I want someone to gift it to me!

I've decided to give 2018 snowflake_challenge a go!

Day 1

In your own space, talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and, if you’ve participated in the past, how the challenge has affected you. What drew you to it? What did you take away from it? What do you hope to accomplish this year? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I apparently only attempted the challenge once before, January 2014. I made one post! /o\

But I like other people's posts, and I sincerely want to get back in the habit of posting and checking Dreamwidth regularly. I let my paid account lapse last October because I just wasn't using DW any more, except to post vids. But I like and miss people who are still active here, so I'm going to try to be more active as well. If I manage it I will reward myself by upgrading to a paid account again. So, well, I have a few things I hope to accomplish in 2018, and more time on DW is definitely one of them.

They suggested to rec for a small fandom, but I'm going to rec for one of the largest: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Because I just love it that much.

Ten Things Buffy Does Best: A short, spoiler-free essay by Mike Marinaro, creator of Critically Touched and writer of the most thorough set of Buffy reviews I've seen.  Here he outlines why Buffy is his favorite show, and I totally agree.

The one thing I love about Buffy that Mike doesn't discuss is its wide range of female characters, its emphasis on women and girls' relationships with each other, and its celebration and exploration of female power.  So my second and third recs are for vids that showcase these aspects of the show with few spoilers.  There are many Buffy vids I love, but these are two that, by virtue of their emphasis on themes ranging throughout the series and their lack of spoilers, are great intros to the series.

Scarlet Ribbons byaycheb. Joss Whedon said that "the very first mission statement of the show was the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it."  This lovely vid captures just that aspect of the show, while contrasting this sort of "power with" that many women -- and some men -- exercise with the authoritarian "power over" represented by the "vampires, the demons, and forces of darkness."

Living Dead Girl by bradcpu.  Don't think for a second that BtVS essentializes female power as inherently better, gentler, or more egalitarian than male power.  This vid explores the "dark side" of power, and a whole bunch of other things, through the character Faith.  It is awesome. 

Of course, one thing neither of these vids captures is the humor of the series.  For me, that is a huge part of the show's appeal.  It's just some of the funniest damn television I've seen.  And not only is it funny, it's can also be just plain heartwarming.  In a genuine way.  So I'll leave off with a vid that captures some of the humor, kindness, and warmth of the show.  Of course, a lot of the show's humor isn't visual, so this leans more toward the show's use of physical comedy, but hey, I love that too.

Smile, by charmax .  Made for a past More Joy Day!  Includes lots of Angel as well as Buffy.

I have SO many fannish goals.  Here are the main ones.

1. Go to Vividcon!  This will be my self-reward for finishing my dissertation. 

2. Vid for Vividcon!

3. Make a few vids aimed specifically at developing a new skill.  For instance, I'm starting to clip for my (hopeful) Club Vivid submission, and will be focusing on learning how to use -- and add -- motion more effectively.

4. Learn photoshop well enough to make passable icons.  I'd love to gain this skill as a way to make gifts for people, since I'll never be writing fic and making a vid is a huge endeavor.  Also, as much as I love many of the icons out there, I'd really like to be able to make my own.

(Day 7 was friendslocked due to cat photos.  I'll happily add you if you want; just let me know.)