Thank goodness, not in my playground

[jlh]

One of the peculiarities of writing Ryan/Simon is that Simon, in all his grouchy, hairy, pushing-fifty ridiculousness, scares away the fangirls. It's a downside because it means the audience for Rymon is limited. This might seem odd from the outside—Ryan and Simon are back every season after all, and their interaction is the most overtly flirtatious on the show, so overt that it's the source of jokes on other shows. But your average teen doesn't want to read about Simon, his reflexive obnoxiousness, and his chest hair, when they can read about the latest singer, who is younger and more marketed to them in the first place. So Rymon fandom is small, the little engine that just keeps on going, but never gets all that large.

But the upside of this is that the whole "but do you really think they're doing it? are you a TRUE BELIEVER?" conversation also doesn't happen. I hate this question myself because first of all, it literally does not matter at all; you can write a story about people that you don't think are fucking in real life. It is called fiction after all. But the larger reason I hate this question is that the only answer possible is: I don't know. Because we don't know. Even if I were buddies with them I wouldn't know. One of the things I learned from my long friendship with BFF C____ is that no one knows what is going on inside a relationship except the two people having it. This might be why we gossip so much, because we don't know.

RPF speculation is like FPF ship wars, really. There's nothing actually good about it, it generally leads to wank, and what happens if you're right? Do you get a fabulous new car? A dinette set? No? Then what is the point?

So thank you, flaming_potato, for being awesome once again. I heart my Rymon buddies.

Comments

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

it's a far, far less irritating situation, to be sure!

[strawberrytatoo.livejournal.com]

I am a little sad that there isn't more Rymon in world, for the reasons you listed. But yeah, I suppose Simon isn't every bodies cup of tea.

From what I've seen, the Rymon fandom is small, but nice. Wank annoys me more than anything in the world, so it's not all bad.

Flaming Potato is indeed awesome, lets just hope for a little more Rymon snark in the next few shows of AI so we can squee over there ;)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I will confess that yesterday I watched that little moment where Simon said "I'm sorry" to everyone and Ryan was like, "It feels good doesn't it?" and Simon said "I'm sorry" to Ryan and Ryan was like, "YEAH," and Simon was like, not smiling. I played that over and over and over again. I can't get enough of it. That plus the "It's cramped and has no AC" are like, I mean, those are my tin hat moments right there.

I like small but nice. And as you know, I adore when people objectify Simon, and if that keeps the riffraff out, so be it, I say.

Also next week is Idol Gives Back and hopefully we'll get another African honeymoon because that was fucking AMAZING.

As for wank—oh, m'dear, I was deep into the HP fandom. I know from wank. I'm so over it!

[eilujspark.livejournal.com]

Ryan, Simon, Paula, and Randy are going to be on Larry King tommorow night. I don't know if Ryan is hosting it for Larry, or if Larry will be there too.

I kind of hope it's the former. Just for the AC 360 preview. That's amusing enough normally, but if Simon is there....

[consumedbywords.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for the heads up. I'm hoping for some Ryan/Anderson interaction.

[eilujspark.livejournal.com]

Anderson will be in his glory. He's such a fangirl for AI. Did you see his Paula impression on Regis and Kelly?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=b4NVLIG0Czk&feature=related

I love the end where he calls Ryan "super talented".

[consumedbywords.livejournal.com]

Yes! He's so adorable. I love when he's on Ryan's morning show and they talk about guilty pleasure stuff like My Super Sweet 16.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

On the TIVO, thank you for the heads up! and yeah, Ryan and the Coop are adorable sekrit gaytastic girlfriends together.

[dreamerren.livejournal.com]

ilu ♥

You basically said everything that I think on the issue...and far more eloquently.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

♥

I saw what you said at cf and I thought it was great. I just, seriously, seriously, every time this comes up I'm like, why do we need to have this discussion? What does it matter? Just so everyone can line up and say, "I think they broke up in January" or whatever, and feel clever?

But you know, I also hate canon speculation in media fandoms because we'll either find out or we won't and I sort of don't get the point, really. And I know that lots of people love debating canon speculation, and I just don't get what is fun about that.

[dreamerren.livejournal.com]

I saw what you said at cf and I thought it was great.
Thank you! I guess the worst part of it for me is the immediate willingness of people to believe the worst in one of the boys, to jump to a negative instead of trying to find a positive spin.

What is the matter with just saying "we were wrong and they are happy" and instead creating this ginormous drama that we really have no business judging either one of them for, because it's a creative of overzealous minds.

They are just people living their lives and WE are the ones that nosed our way in and decide to impose our interpretations on them. Isn't that our fault and not theirs? Can't we just enjoy that we got to watch the unfolding of an amazing friendship between two wonderful and very different people. Isn't that enough? Isn't it enough that they brought us all together as friends?

I miss the fun we used to have in the fandom. When it was about two cute boys and their friendship and how fun it was to think about them possibly screwing around...all the rest of this bullshit, sucks all the fun out of it. The only two people who knows what went on between them is Blake and Chris and they aren't going to tell us and they don't owe us an explanation. As long as they are happy with each other, than I am happy. The details, that's their business.

(Uh...sorry...I sort of rambled there. *blushes*)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Isn't it enough that they brought us all together as friends?

You know, it really is. And that's why, both in rpf and in fictional canons, I just can't get too involved in the speculation, mostly because I can't control the outcome. In my stories, though, I get to do as I please, which is why I write them! ^_^

You can ramble in my LJ anytime, lady!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I just have to say I have never gotten that either. "We'll find out when we find out" has always been such a mantra to me. Guessing doesn't really get you anything. Sure there are things that I've totally seen coming, but if I turn out to be wrong I'm probably just pleasantly surprised.

[best-of-five.livejournal.com]

well, to be fair, we're also only treated to ridiculous bearding stories like ryan did ages ago. we're not expected to constantly deal with significant others in the news. umm, no idea if that other fandom does or not but skimming through the comments, it seemed so.

plus, we're just in it for the fun of it all :D

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

what's funny is that all the drama is over two things: one boy turned up in one tabloid story claiming he and a female ex-finalists were all over each other- no followup on that- and the other one supposedly has a girlfriend who, well, he could do better blindfolded and with both hands tied behind his back, and there's every reason to believe she'd be happy to tag along just to try to get her "modeling career" in gear. so unless one is determined to angst, it can be written off as ridiculous bearding quite easily!

some people, though, seem to be determined to angst, and as you say, how is that fun?

[best-of-five.livejournal.com]

really? =)) =)) ok, that's really funny. yeah, bearding doesn't get easier than that!

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Well, there's always Terri. But half the British press thinks she's a beard, and she certainly fits the signifiers (friends before they dated, will never marry, etc.) I love how easily we completely dismiss her.

[best-of-five.livejournal.com]

clearly, we have our priorities screwed on slashy! ;)

[consumedbywords.livejournal.com]

I agree with this post so much. One of the many reasons I adore this ship is that they are a constant on the show. It's hard for me to really get into the various singer ships because they, for the most part, only provide fresh material for one season. Rymon is always there, always giving us something new to analyze and to get excited about.

♥♥♥ flaming_potato

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Cake was like, a tiger-by-the-tail one-time only phenom. I never cared about singershipping before that, and I don't think I'll care ever again.

Rymon is so rich—it has a whole history. And it's ridiculous how early it started, and all the phases it's gone through, and omg African honeymoon, and they're always talking about each other and just, it's insane.

And you are definitely one of the people that make F_P awesome!

[consumedbywords.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you. blushes

The African honeymoon was so amazing and magical and I'm worried that this year's IGB won't be able to top it. But even if it doesn't, the sheer amount of Rymon we've had this season more than makes up for it.

[honestys-easy.livejournal.com]

Thank you darling, thank you.

Your last paragraph however gives me daydreams of Ryan and Simon as contestants on The Price Is Right. That Showcase Showdown would be legendary.

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

omg.

[honestys-easy.livejournal.com]

In which Simon will be bitching that he doesn't need a bloody catamaran so why should he bid on it, and Ryan continually asks Bob Barker where he gets his suits. :D

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

i would pay any sum to hear simon say he doesn't need a bloody catamaran.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Ryan continually asks Bob Barker where he gets his suits.

or any number of abstruse technical questions about hosting with non-pros and how bob moves everyone on and off stage and all of that.

And Simon is like, "well, of course I don't know the price for the low rent version!" And he would refuse to spin the wheel.

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

well, you know i agree with you. also, HA on the chest hair. preferences are one thing but i guess i'm way too old for the EWW HAIR ON BOYS SHAVE IT business.

[eilujspark.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you. There is no way of knowing either way, so why get so worked up about it? I admit to being tinhattish at times, but at least I think I know I am being tinhattish, and I thank the Rymon fandom at large for not allowing things to go into wanky territory.

The fact is that if they ARE....it's not like they are going to come prancing out of the closet together anytime soon. Hell, by the time either or both are ready to come out...they may not even be together anymore.

If they AREN'T......well then they aren't. And there is no real way of knowing that either.

And yes, there is no prize for guessing correctly either way.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

This isn't about being tinhattish though, because I think having tinhattish moments is part of the fun—that's the rush! The point is that we don't sit around and analyze our tinhattish moments, or demand that everyone either agree or not agree with them. There isn't all this, "but do you really BELIEVE in Rymon?" because who cares? RPF is like, agreeing to kind-of-belive, or, agreeing to pretend-to-believe because then we can mask when we're not pretending. And if we all are "pretending" at the same time, it doesn't matter when some are pretending and some sort of aren't. It's the nailing it down, the "step up and be counted, what is really going on" that I think on the one hand, undermines community, and on the other hand, is really more about people's RPF shame/need to be reassured than anything else. You have people on one side who need the opportunity to say "well, I'm not crazy, of course I don't really believe it!" and on the other side "omg we all agree that it's totally true so I'm not crazy for wanting it to be true!"

Online life is a constant exercise in proving your relative sanity, often by showing that you know who is crazy.

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

You have people on one side who need the opportunity to say "well, I'm not crazy, of course I don't really believe it!" and on the other side "omg we all agree that it's totally true so I'm not crazy for wanting it to be true!"

you know, i have been trying to articulate, even to myself, why the whole thing frustrates me and why i don't want to put in my two cents, except parenthetically, and you nailed it. i don't like the whole roll call business, and the way it seems to suggest that the truth can be reached by majority vote. the whole notion is just off somehow.

i am fascinated, though, by the people who are popping up with "well, i think they're both straight. but i think b doesn't let gender get in the way of sexual attraction, and i think c fell in love with b, and..." this isn't the first time this sort of thing has come up. and it's intriguing. because once i get past the sort of sputtering "but, but, THAT ISN'T STRAIGHT" i wonder if maybe it isn't a truly subversive turn? like, straight now means nothing but a social construct? if you say you're straight, and you only publicly date the opposite sex, you are straight? on a certain level, i kind of love it.

[sisterpandora.livejournal.com]

Then what is the point?

An invisible dinette set, maybe? To seat all the friends that live in their head?