I thought this summer would be as most summers. Bereft of new episodes of my favorite shows, my only other option of shows to watch would be old reruns of M*A*S*H. And then, I switched to the USA channel for some good L&O: SVU, and within minutes was hooked on “The 4400”. I had seen it advertised last year, and thought that it was some show about Jehovah’s Witnesses and the religious Armageddon (*blush* What? 4400 is pretty to 144,000!) and it just didn’t seem like my kind of show.

Boy was I wrong! My sister filled me in on the premise and what happened last season, and I’ve become completely absorbed. The acting is incredible–really well done from everybody, the storyline’s great, and it feels like old time X-Files–without the monsters-of-the-week. I’m so excited!

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Tagged by eponine119!

I had started a similar one months ago, but never finished it. So I morphed the two of them together and got this:

1. Current fandoms

Lord of the Rings. Everwood. Lost. Still a little bit Gilmore Girls, but that’s fading–I’m just trying to keep it strong enough to finish my ficcy. Law and Order.

2. First fandom ever
As eponine119 stated, that question depends on your definition. Lord of the Rings was infused into my bones the moment I read it (and I don’t really remember when that was), but I never did anything “fandom” related to it until shortly before the movies. I wrote plays based on my various likes when I was 12-13–Nancy Drew, and there was this “quilt series”, period romance novels by someone that I can’t even remember, but I loved those books, and at one time, wrote my own “Civil War” story that was extremely similar. High school, I developed my first one screen crush and found the television show that I absolutely had to watch–Lois and Clark: The Adventures of Superman. I still remember that moment, when Lois discover who Clark was, and that kiss… *sigh* Of course, it all went bad from there, but it was fun while it lasted.

But the the real first fandom began in 1998. The X-Files. I was late into it – didn’t seen a single episode until after the movie, but I made up for it. I joined my first mailing list: Fox William Mulder on the Web, which I still miss. Saw every single episode. Ventured into the world of fanfiction, even wrote my first story, but never finished it. Bought action figures. Lived, breathed, even dreamed X-Files. I even called one of my friends Mulder once. It’s never really died. As Megan (eponine119) stated, X-Files was an education, and one that has influenced all of my fannish tendencies since then.

3. Most Recent Fandoms
Lost. It’s frustrating because I don’t even know where to start speculating on what’s going to happen. Every week, I feel like I’m left dumb and clueless. But I’m intrigued by it. Intrigued by the characters, and I love a strong character show, with mystery and suspense, a little bit of romance and horror. In short, I may have found my next X-Files. However, I haven’t gotten to the point where I’ve join any boards or written any stories. And pretty much the only fanfiction I read is Megan’s. But the summer’s long, and I have an urging to get involved, stave off boredom. Any really, really good Lost LJ communities?

Everwood I really can’t claim as a recent fandom, since I’ve been watching it since the beginning, but the love is definitely stronger now.

4. Five Fandoms that Mean a Lot to You
(In no particular order, except as they pop up in my brain.)

Everwood–I loved it the first season for the awesome angst between Andy and Ephram. I love it now because of Bright. And Hannah. And the rest of the Abbotts. I’ve stayed away from being completely absorbed into the fandom aspect of things, mostly because I feel so much older than the rest of the groupies. And I can’t stand the nickname of Brannah. But there’s been some ideas of stories (short!) itching the back of my mind, so maybe it’s time for a complete baptism.

Gilmore Girls— how much I loved thee! You were the first fandom that I ever published my writing for. Because of you, I discovered half of the people on my friends list. Alas, the moment you decided to write Jess’s character off was when you started to fade–because then you discovered that you could make your characters jerks and completely unlike themselves just to serve your crazy purpose. While I think I’m done with you, I’ll always think of you fondly for the memories you did create, the stories you inspired, and the friends that you brought together.

Star Trek: Voyager–two words. Tom Paris. I am a sucker for the helmboy. In fact, my best friend once wrote a story where Tom asked me out on a date. That may have been my first Mary Sue experience. I’ve been a member of a Paris/Torres email group and a Chakotay/Seven list as well. I just can’t believe that it’s been 3 years since the show ended. *woe*

X-Files–I’m think I’ve already pontificated this one to the ground.

Lord of the Rings–if you’ve been my friend for any length of time, you know why I love this so much. It’s probably been the fandom that I’ve been most involved in the last few years. I mean, I started a discussion group for the books, for heavens sake! And there’s still so much there that is unexplored…

Other “honorable mentions”: Buffy the Vampire Slayer–the all-time show for the best one-liners, and really really excellent fiction. And Spike? Mmm. Angel, although it took me a while to get into this one because I just wasn’t that fond of Angel. Harry Potter–yes, I admit it, I read HP fanfiction! And I’m eagerly awaiting the 6 books and will probably go online promptly after I read it to discuss theories.

5. Fandom you stayed loyal to the longest?
LOTR (obviously). X-Files. Every once in a while, I go on a hunt to track down the old websites and stories. I never did get my Mulder!Clone…

6. Fandom(s) you wished you could get into, but never did:
Alias. By the time I started watching, the show was winding down. And while it was a okay show this year, it wasn’t enough to get me to want to talk about it or write about it.

7. Fandom that’s been the most fun to be involved in?
All of them have been great. But based purely on fun–that’d be X-Files.

8. Fandom that’s been the least fun to be involved in.
I hate to say it, but LOTR. The drama and pettiness of some of the writing groups really turned me off. With X-Files, I stayed in my own little niche of the online groups and missed much of the drama, and while I’ve still been pretty peripheral in the onlines fights with LOTR, it affected me more because it drove authors away that I really liked and discouraged them from writing. And I’ve hated that. Hopefully soon, that will die down and the flocks will be returning. Unless they’ve found another fandom.

9. Fandom you’re ashamed to admit you were involved in?

None, actually. I will admit proudly to all of my fandoms.

10. Are you looking for a new fandom, or actively avoiding getting sucked into something new?

I don’t have time for more fandoms–but we’ll see how compelling “The 4400” continues to be this summer.

Tag five people to put this into their journal

Consider ya’ll tagged–I always feel bad because I miss people and/or tag people who don’t want to do it!

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Saw the preview for the new Pride and Prejudice movie… To me, the Bible of P&P will always be the A&E version–I can watch all 5 hours of it, and have numerous times, and not even notice the time passing. Could you even imagine a Mr. Darcy who is not Colin Firth? Sacrilege! But trying to be fair, Keira Knightly at least looks the age of Elizabeth, which unfortunately, Jennifer Ehle did not. And hopefully, this time, Jane will actually be the prettiest girl in the town, rather than the horse-looking girl with the funky neck and side curls. I mean, I snickered every time Elizabeth said “and you are quite five times as pretty as the rest of us” wondering what their standards of beauty were back then. It does look like that it will be an enjoyable 2 hours though, and yes, I do admit to being excited for it.

And the preview for RENT?? Jesse Martin singing??Add to that Ewan McGregor is playing Sky Masterson! Sky! *swoon* Anybody wanna do a London trip? 🙂