Consonants and vowels all together, equally

So a little while ago I was opining about lists and voting and all that shite and talked about the whole 1000 greatest rock songs countdowns on classic rock stations and how everyone knows what's going to be at the top, and it's really the lower numbers that are interesting.

Then tonight I sat down and watched one of those silly things you do over a holiday weekend, where VH1 polled a bunch of musicians and put together a top 100 artists of all time thing. And what was remarkable about the list was that the top 20 was actually very different than it would have been had the list been made, say, 25 years ago. Which, of course, is as it should be, but I guess I'm so used to the whole Rolling Stone-led worship of boomer culture that I was vaguely surprised.

This, though. This is a list voted on by people my age and younger, and reflects how completely R&B and rap have been absorbed into pop alongside rock because those artists were invited to vote, too, and it shows. ( the list ) I keep staring at this list like I can't believe it's real.

Sometimes I get a little wistful, even woeful, when it seems like the big new thing isn't really my thing. And oddly, on the other side of that, I'm very shy to be like, "I like this thing that isn't the big thing" for a variety of reasons that at the end of the day aren't that interesting.* So instead, and as a sort of answer to a conversation ziggy1278 and I were having last night:

A LIST OF STUFF I LOVE

On TV
• 90s sitcoms: Friends, Frasier, Will & Grace, Mad About You, Anything But Love, Night Court, Seinfeld, Caroline and the City, Murphy Brown
  
• Stuff on PBS: American Experience, Nova, Frontline, Masterpiece Theater
  
• Cooking shows: Julia Child, Caprial Pence, The Frugal Gourmet, Jacques Pepin especially with Claudine, Good Eats, Nigella Lawson, Great Chefs of many cities
  
• Mysteries: the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes, the David Suchet Hercule Poirot, the Harriet Walter/Edward Petherbridge Lord Peter, Inspector Morse, Midsomer Murders, Campion, Cadfael, Murder in Suburbia
  
• Old movie channels: Weird late 60s capers on Fox Movie Channel, RKO musicals on AMC back when AMC was actually good, almost anything on TCM but especially Silent Sundays, Saturday nights on PBS, weekend afternoons before the onset of the infomercial. I break for black & white.
  In fandom
  
• Small ships and small fandoms, like Rymon and Seamus/Dean. They're smaller, but they're nicer, they're less wanky, they love love love the pairing, there's no crazy hierarchies but rather everyone brings their own talents, and even though we get less of what we love, man, do we love what we get. flaming_potato and deamus, I love you guys.
  
• Yuletide, especially for the fandoms that don't even have a community. It's so free of the freaking out over numbers of comments and all the other drama and stress that pervades other fic exchanges. You can't be crazy specific, and you don't even want to be because mostly, you just want a fic to exist about that character in that canon. You can write without a horrible weight on your shoulders, because you got to pick the canons that you'd love to write. Your response has so much more to do with the canon and the timing than what you've done—I have a huge pile of comments on last year's HIMYM fic because that fandom was just about to take off; I have many fewer on this year's Broken Hearts Club fic because fewer people are aware of the movie. And it's fun to see what other people's requests have brought forth, like that amazing Grindhouse fic this year.
  
• The two small fandom comms I'm on, fandom_of_one and smallfandomfest, for the same reasons. It's nice that there's a way for people to communicate about smaller fandoms. Also, whenever someone pimps a smaller fandom on fandomsecrets. It's just lovely when fandom can bring people together instead of dividing them into camps.
  
• The increasing RPF meta on metafandom. The increasing meta about all kinds of things on metafandom that isn't just the latest dustup among the multifandom genre slash crowd.
  
• The increasing conversation about race in fandom, and how it's spread, and how fewer and fewer people bitch about the harsh to their squee or how we're just here to have fun or any of that bullshit. Thank god for deadbrowalking.
  On LJ just generally
  
• People talking about things they love, whether I love those things or not. It's fun to watch other people going through and talking about it, because it's just fun to watch people like something. And it reminds me that we don't all love the same things, which is really pretty brilliant and easy to forget in the rush to make communities over the things we do share.
  
• People posting music, on audiography or just on their journals.
  
• Movie reviews! Posts about the books you've read! Media talk in general!

What do you love?

*(highlight to read) I used to hang out with a crowd that behind the scenes could be very bitchy about what people posted about, in that "omg so-and-so posts endlessly about show-I-don't-care-about, so tiresome!" The idea was that one's LJ was there to provide entertainment for one's fans via a distant witty façade. I could never achieve that, because I am neither witty nor do I have sycophantic fangirls hanging on my every word—though I think the above list of things that I love shows why; I don't like the things fangirls like, don't write the angsty stories they crave, and don't provide the entertainment to them that they want. Of course, most of these people have also left fandom well behind them, some with something of an air of contempt, and certainly don't write fanfiction anymore. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't think I can really even try to come up to their standards anymore. Which I never did, anyway. And while some of those people are on LJ sometimes, I'm pretty sure none of them still read mine.
But I still flinch, reflexively, when I decide to post about something. Is it entertaining? Is it likely that the people on my flist, many of whom are hard core genre fans, care about these other things I like? I don't think it was until I got more involved with Idol fandom, and started posting about Idol regularly, and met other people that way, that I felt more confident about posting about other things, too.

( The computer death situation update )

Notes to self on posts to be made when I once again have access to my hard drive:

1. It's the end of the year, and everyone is making music lists, and C suggested in August that I just make some of my own, and I think I will. One thing that's kept me from doing so is feeling that since I don't have access to all things, I can't really say, "this thing is best." But you know, that never stopped anyone else!
   
2. This includes a list of videos you must check out on mtv.com. calloocallay asked for suggestions a while ago but I haven't really had the kind of access that made me feel comfortable cruising around the site reminding myself of all that crazy stuff from the 80s and 90s that are burned into my brain.

I expect to add to this list.

I need a Keith Moon icon AND a Butch Vig icon, so if anyone knows of a place to get pics of musicians in general or someone doing the same, let me know!

So tonight after So You Think You Can Dance I was floating around the channels and found that VH1 Classic (which is sort of an Gen-Xer oldies music channel) was doing a countdown of the top 20 movie soundtracks as voted at their website. The list is pretty good, and follows, but the great part is that the Rocky Horror fans totally hijacked the poll, putting a link to it on the fansite and asking everyone to vote. How awesome is that? And how clever is it that when VH1 saw that they'd made it #1, they were like, you know, rock on, fans—they even put the whole story in their TV countdown. And you know, you kinda can't argue with it. I mean, "Time Warp" is really the only group dance I can support.

So what do you think of this list? Me, I'm sad not to see Repo Man, which would have received my vote!

( Top 20 Soundtracks, according to VH1 )

So then I'm going to bed, and randomly flicking around a little because I'm not quite quiet enough for lights out, and lo, there is Garbage, randomly on PBS on some show called Soundstage. On goes the TIVO and I went back on chat because if Garbage is on broadcast TV, bhanesidhe must be told! And now, I sleep.

So discussing LunaCon with both blackholly and bhanesidhe got me thinking: what would the Con of Clio be? Come along, won't you?


( ClioCon! )

Well? So what would your con be?

A list of ten because that's what praetorianguard always does. But before I launch into that, I'm very honored to say that the smut I recently wrote, Lily and the Marauders, inspired some incredibly hot, not work safe fanart by violetfishy. SO AWESOME!

Also, if you've ever changed your LJ name, won't you fill out tea_and_toast's lovely poll?

1. It is totally awesome to watch everyone get hooked on Veronica Mars! It's so rare that I'm in on the ground floor of anything so I'm really excited that people are loving it. I'm happy that all you Buffyphiles are liking it, too. The second I watched it I called epicyclical and said, "I have your new show" and I'm so glad I was right! For all you fans, TWOP has an interview with Rob Thomas that is pretty damn gear.

2. What I learned from my ten things meme: There are a lot of rural folks out there! Go us!

3. Is it my imagination, or are we seeing a lot more of Eva than we did of any of the other America's Next Top Model winners? She was all over the recent Fashion Week shows. She has a great look, a wonderful old-time Harlem Renaissance sort of thing.

4. Speaking of which, ANTM will never be able to fill the hole in my heart left by Project Runway. ohnotheydidnt has a transcript of Jay's TVguide interview which only made me fall for him even more. He's a boo! Now I want to get famous and have him make me an outfit just to prove a point. Maybe I'll just make do with a tshirt or tote in the meantime.

5. I'm watching the Michael Kors show (one of the local cable channels airs all the fashion shows) and he really is just awesome. I kept thinking, why is he on Project Runway, doesn't he have something better to do? But he managed to do that, a ready to wear line, and launch his bridge line. Granted, they filmed the main portion of Project Runway in three weeks in the middle of the summer, but still!

6. According to Entertainment Weekly, PR had Austin make a collection to keep the shows spoiler-free. Personally, I'd love to see it!

7. Special to blackholly and light_music: The new Tori Amos CD is awesome. Seriously.

8. I am really looking forward to a weekend filled with not much. I'm going to write and putter around and probably call people and stuff like that and it will be very cool.

9. bowdlerized and ziggy1278, since I lost my phone I'll need your numbers again. Post with private poll is here. That means you too, maybethemoon!

10. My hair is now a shade darker and I really like it.

I am in Boston at my best friend C's house, about to eat some chicken and then take a train home. I have done a great deal of shopping, mostly at Target while we were really looking for something else. I bought:

• At Target
  
  
  
  • Hiking sandals, which were very necessary as my other pair broke late last summer and my only flat sandals were too big
    
  • Two pairs of sunglasses, one pink and one blue
    
  • Pink ponytail holders and some bobby slides, plus some cool corkscrew bobby slides that I'll have to give to Cassie because my hair lauged at them
    
  • Hand wash
    
  • A blue vinyl handbag for the summer, that has a cute little pocket for my phone
    
  • A black wallet with the letter 'k' on it in pink
    
  
  
• At Borders
  
  
  
  • Volumes I & II of the Fruits Basket manga, the first manga I have ever purchased, for the first anime I ever really liked
    
  • Two anthologies that included my friend Julie that I didn't have. Also, so cool, there was a little box in front of her books that said, "If you like her books, try these." Julie just sent me a proper birth announcement--her son was born this March--and a link to her baby photos. I saw her just before Nimbus and she was very intrigued by the whole thing, so if you like her too, go ahead and let her know you're a Potterfan!
    
  • Not a purchse, but C thought Holly's new Tithe cover was really cool.
    
  
  
• At Cambridgeside
  
  
  
  • A car charger for my ipod at the Apple Store
    
  • Face care refills at the Body Shop plus some foot lotion
    
  
  

Now I have to find a way to fit all this stuff in my backpack . . .