What would Buffy do?

[cordelianne]

Today I was exercising with the tv on the station which plays Buffy the Vampire Slayer repeats, and "The Freshman" was airing. It was great background for working out, until the scene when Xander gives Buffy his Dadaist pep talk, because it made me cry. I've seen every BtVS episode a ridiculous amount of times yet there are certain moments that get me every time, even if I'm in the middle of Pilates. I just love this speech so much:

Xander: Buffy, I've gone through some fairly dark times in my life, faced some scary things, among them the kitchen at 'The Fabulous Ladies Night Club.' Let me tell you something, when it's dark and I'm all alone and I'm scared or freaked out or whatever, I always think, 'What would Buffy do?' You're my hero. Ok, sometimes when it's dark and I'm all alone I think, 'What is Buffy wearing?'
Buffy: Can that be one of those things you never, ever, tell me about?

For some reason this got me thinking about the various fandoms and obsessions that I've had over the years, so I thought I'd list a few of my favourite fan obsessions and embarrassing fan activities (some of these are from when I was very young). Feel free to tell me your shameful fan moments!!

- Anne of Green Gables (books & movies) and L.M. Montgomery - I was Anne for Halloween once, and did an essay on L.M. Montgomery in high school. I have read every single published work by L.M.M. at least once. In a zine of mine, I had a section in which I quoted (out of context) lesbian subtext moments between Anne and Diana.
- Annie (the movie) - I actually made an Annie costume for myself and would act out the movie.
- Little House on the Prairie (books & tv show) - I was Laura TWICE for Halloween, I love her so much. I can discuss the differences between the books and the tv show, and why the books are better.
- Baby-sitters Club books - Oh the shame! I saw the movie when it came out even though I was much older. I still own #1 through #40, and the first 4 Super Specials.
- The Sound of Music - I know all the words to the movie.
- Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High (those amazing Canadian teen soap tv shows) - So good, so addictive.
- My So-Called Life and Jordan Catalano - I actually had a picture of him up in my high school locker.
- Dawson's Creek - I was a Joey/Pacey shipper. Katie, why have you ruined my memories of Joey and Pacey with your antics with Tom?!
- ani difranco - I would go to all her concerts, I own all her albums and used to have posters of her on my walls.
- The Lord of the Rings - I went to all the movies on opening night, and then watched them at least 2 more times in the theatre.
- BtVS/AtS/Firefly/Joss Whedon - Other than my entire LJ? I have a clipboard which I use at work that is decorated with pictures of Spike. Seriously.

There are likely MANY more, but I'm trying to restrain myself so I don't reveal anything else shameful!

I also did that Birthday meme, and the answers for September 2nd are here:
The instructions: Go to Wikipedia. In the search box, type your birth month and day (but not year). List three events that happened on your birthday. List two important birthdays and one interesting death. Post this in your journal.

Events (I avoided the distressing massacres):

1666 - The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral. This is still distressing, but I'm fascinated that the fire started on my birthday.
1901 - Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair. I'm highly entertained that the exact date & location of this phrase's orgin is remembered.
1998 - In Canada, pilots for Air Canada launch the first strike in company's history. Yes, I picked this one because it's a Canadian entry.

Birthdays:

1850 - Albert Spalding, baseball player and sporting goods manufacturer (d. 1915)
1964 - Keanu Reeves, American actor Dude!!!

Death:

1973 - J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (b. 1892) Yes, gotta go with Tolkien.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday night!!

Comments

[tkp.livejournal.com]

The Sound of Music - I know all the words to the movie.

Me too. I was really active on an SoM fan board. When I went to study in Europe my friends made me a box with pictures of them and Captain Von Trapp on it. I went to the SoM sing-a-long in London and met my online friends there. We sang Julie Andrews songs on the subway. Then I went to Austria, expressly for the purpose of taking the SoM tour in Salzburg. I had to sing on the bus. Then I made it to Holland in time to meet another online SoM friend, stay at her house, and go to the Dutch SoM Sing-a-long. She gave me a pic of Julie Andrews printed on photo paper so it looks like I have a real photograph. I still have all the sing-a-long paraphenelia (Dutch and English). And I find none of this as embarrassing as writing SoM fic.

I don't really have any stories for any other fandom I've been in. I'm not so much with the tangible objects and paraphenilia--I never know what to do with stuff like that so I don't collect it, and I've never found much of a venue outside of the internet to participate in the fan activities I'm interested in. I did take a class in Jane Austen, my first fandom, but somehow that doesn't feel so fannish...I guess because many not so nutty as me were in the class. I did, however, win the trivia contest our prof gave us (because I knew that the cheese served at the Box Hill picnic was Stilton.)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday night!!

My BFF stood me up! I'm stuck trolling around lj. Not that that's a bad thing!

[drakontaskyria.livejournal.com]

Hey dude! On a commercial break, but - we're both Virgos. Huh! I still have to do the birthday meme thing...

[amybnnyc.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, fandom things. I can think of the big two (I'm really not that much of a fannish person, recent events aside):

New Kids on the Block: There was very, VERY little of the merchandise that they put out that I did not own. I was in LURVE. And it makes me laugh still to think just how loudly I screamed the one time I saw them in concert.

BtVS, AtS: Um, a hundred billion plastic vampires in my apartment, being a very very out loud and proud fannish person to pretty much everyone, I write fanfic, have a site, and go to cons. So yeah--BIG with the fannish on this one, in a way that surpasses the NKoTB behavior. Only now I don't squeal like a terrified kitten when I goto these things and meet fandom people. (Thank God.)

BabySitters Club is love, man. I was also really big on the Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine books--it was always the incredibly-supportive best friend waiting to murder you heinously, so that may have impacted my social development somewhat, but they were still fun to read. *g*

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

Awwww, I love that speech from Xander. How cool would it be for someone to say "You are my hero". Awww big awwwws for Xander and his heart.
Well, I've always been obsessed with music - biggest obsessions Blur ::points to icon:: I have spent untold amounts of money on all things Blur for about ten years. It's started to wane a bit though. Perhaps that's what getting old does to you? Also the Clash, Patti Smith, Jeff Buckley, PJ Harvey, Radiohead and David Bowie have taken large amounts of cash off me.
I'm also a fangirl for Wong-Kar Wai and Jim Jarmusch films. I have written two University essays on Dead Man. Heeee.
Yay for Virgos! :)

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

- Little House on the Prairie (books & tv show) - I was Laura TWICE for Halloween, I love her so much. I can discuss the differences between the books and the tv show, and why the books are better.

*snuggles you*

Did you know that Stoney has written LHOP slash? Yep. Andy/Albert. Hah!

obsessions

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Everyone's had a distressing obsession -- it seems yours were simply focused a lot on dressing like your heroes. (Got pictures?) I had a blue Star Trek t-shirt and -- get this -- a Spock hair cut! Yes, it looked just as bad as it sounds. I also had a uniform shirt with sergeant stripes on it while I was collect Sgt. Rock comic books, and of course there's my obsession with L. Frank Baum's Oz books, which led the the icon you see here -- which nobody likes. :-(

Although I don't have the Sound of Music memorized, it's one of my favorite movies. And -- I was in it! Well, the play, anyway -- I was Herr Zeller. Just my luck, I get to be a bad guy.

[kittyzams.livejournal.com]

OMG, Cordelianne. This is just too entirely awesome. But first, I just have to say that I love that speech Xander gives. And I love how much it affects Buffy and motivates her to stand strong against the baddies. ::loves::

Here is a quick list of some of the things I was obsessively fangirlish over as a child:

* The Neverending Story- I so wanted Atreyu to be my first kiss, hee! And I totally swore that if I ever had a son that I would give him that most glorificous of names. Hmm, I did end up naming my dog Sebastian...

* Star Wars- I was OBSESSED. Other girls were busy playing with Barbies while I spent hours building elaborate fortresses for my SW action figures to play in. Darth Vader was my first crush. I am sick, I know.

* A Wrinkle in Time series- I spent hours pretending to be Meg communicating with Charles. My best friend and I attempted to perfect the art of telepathic communication for years afterwords. I am still madly in love with this series. ::adores::

* Baby-sitters Club series- Represent! Of course, my friends and I HAD to start one of our own. I always liked that Claudia's sister's name was Janine. Umm, because that is my name too. ;D

* Sweet Valley High series- I don't want to admit that I still have over 100 SVH books stored in my attic, but it might be true. :D

* Days of Our Lives- OMG, my entire Jr. high school was COMPLETELY obsessed. It was right during the time of Jack and Jenn and when Bo and Hope came back on. DOOL was aired right after school got out and we had DOOL parties, forced all the guys in our jr. high to watch, play acted characters. Oh man, I could go on forever. My best friend and I started using the last name of Brady on our assignments. We would send notes back and forth to each other pretending to be characters. We attended fan events where we got to meet the stars. We even had a cemetery in my back yard where we would bury a picture of a character when they were killed off the show. My parents called it "The Fictional Graveyard". Hee. Oh hell, some of my best memories from youth all relate back to Days. I haven't watched it in years, but I still have about 500 VHS tapes of it up in my attic. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

Okay, I think that's enough embarrassment for now. Hmm, maybe I will give you one tidbit of my inanity from nowadays. I just revealed this to amybnnyc on the phone earlier today, so I might as well tell you too. I have a six foot tall standee of Spike. I do strip teases for it. ::hides::

[femmenerd.livejournal.com]

I will just say now that I have seen/read pretty much ALL of your obsessions. Heh.

And yes, why IS Katie Holmes doing...anything she's been doing lately.

Incidentally, I read an interview with Josh Jackson where he talks about how much he loves his feminist mom. He basically wins.