desperate for some kind of contact
Jan. 6th, 2013 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reflectedeveI clearly stayed home a little too long this time, because being back in Vermont is deeply surreal right now. It's so empty here (more than usual, with most of my classmates away). However, I have the apartment to myself (time for ALL THE CLEANING) and two more weeks without classes to keep mixing fannish things with my work schedule.
So hey,![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
snowflake_challenge Day 6: [i]n your own space, pimp three comms or challenges and explain why you love them.
fanart_recs This community is pretty self-explanatory, but also awesome. People sign up to do sets of recs for an individual fandom on a month-by-month basis. I'm always looking for more ways to spread the fanart love around, and this is great because it brings together work from different sites and sources that people on DW/LJ don't always see (like deviantART and tumblr). Also, fanart is one of the only forms of fanwork I'm willing to consume even if I'm not familiar with the source material, which makes it a great gateway, so it's really cool to have someone bringing it to my circle on a regular basis. The sad thing is, they're frequently running short on reccers, so if you think you could commit to posting a few links over the course of a month at some point ... seriously, think about it?
yuletart Still more fanart love! I'm over the moon that my favorite winter holiday gift exchange was revived this year, even though it conflicted too badly with my schedule. It's an unrestricted multifandom fanart exchange, which always leads to varied and intriguing output! I get the impression that it was a bit smaller this year, with the change of platform and the gap, but I hope it'll pick up a bit more next year, when I definitely intend to play. I've drawn things for fandoms I never expected because of this fest, which is always super fun.
kink_bingo This is hardly a neglected community, but even though I ... totally failed at it this year (though I still have some amnesty time, thank goodness), it remains one of my favorite things in fandom in recent years. So many fandoms, so many interpretations of "kink," such an amazing and continual output of every kind of fanwork! It's expanded my horizons in several directions since I first discovered it, and I enjoy the ramp-up periods at least as much as the challenge, because there is always some amazing and personal meta involved. It also has some of the most conscientious and hard-working mods I've ever come across. If I were going to hold an open challenge or run a community (in or out of fandom) I'd probably look to them as role models for accessibility and transparent structure, which is especially impressive given how complex their chosen subject matter is.
Lastly ... I don't have just one comm to link for this, but I wanted to pause for a minute to appreciate the hell out of the rise of Reverse Bangs. I enjoyed and participated in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bandombigbang for several years, and thelittlebang once, and found them to be immensely inspiring and challenging experiences! I've developed a love of illustration in the last few years, thanks in part to these fests, and they've given me all kinds of ways to stretch when I'm stuck. Also, I just love long fanfiction. But I started to get really frustrated by the way fanart was positioned as a "reward" in these challenges, as though the kind of work I do (and the same goes for podfic and mixes and the like) isn't the "real" work of fandom, but only bonus material. Swapping the process around is incredibly fun, and I won't lie, it makes me feel appreciated by the community, which is nice. I've only had a chance to participate in trekreversebang so far, but bandomreversebb had some amazing output last year, and I can't wait to dive into more of these challenges after I graduate!
Ugh, I love fandom. I am never leaving, at least not for good.
On another note, can I just say that the locked poll I posted yesterday has really not been going the way I more or less expected? (Honestly, any outcome would have made me love my circle, but ... yeah. <3) I'm still waffling a little, though, so feel free to pop over and try to sway me if you haven't yet (ahem).
So hey,
snowflake_challenge Day 6: [i]n your own space, pimp three comms or challenges and explain why you love them.fanart_recs This community is pretty self-explanatory, but also awesome. People sign up to do sets of recs for an individual fandom on a month-by-month basis. I'm always looking for more ways to spread the fanart love around, and this is great because it brings together work from different sites and sources that people on DW/LJ don't always see (like deviantART and tumblr). Also, fanart is one of the only forms of fanwork I'm willing to consume even if I'm not familiar with the source material, which makes it a great gateway, so it's really cool to have someone bringing it to my circle on a regular basis. The sad thing is, they're frequently running short on reccers, so if you think you could commit to posting a few links over the course of a month at some point ... seriously, think about it?yuletart Still more fanart love! I'm over the moon that my favorite winter holiday gift exchange was revived this year, even though it conflicted too badly with my schedule. It's an unrestricted multifandom fanart exchange, which always leads to varied and intriguing output! I get the impression that it was a bit smaller this year, with the change of platform and the gap, but I hope it'll pick up a bit more next year, when I definitely intend to play. I've drawn things for fandoms I never expected because of this fest, which is always super fun.kink_bingo This is hardly a neglected community, but even though I ... totally failed at it this year (though I still have some amnesty time, thank goodness), it remains one of my favorite things in fandom in recent years. So many fandoms, so many interpretations of "kink," such an amazing and continual output of every kind of fanwork! It's expanded my horizons in several directions since I first discovered it, and I enjoy the ramp-up periods at least as much as the challenge, because there is always some amazing and personal meta involved. It also has some of the most conscientious and hard-working mods I've ever come across. If I were going to hold an open challenge or run a community (in or out of fandom) I'd probably look to them as role models for accessibility and transparent structure, which is especially impressive given how complex their chosen subject matter is.Lastly ... I don't have just one comm to link for this, but I wanted to pause for a minute to appreciate the hell out of the rise of Reverse Bangs. I enjoyed and participated in
bandombigbang for several years, and thelittlebang once, and found them to be immensely inspiring and challenging experiences! I've developed a love of illustration in the last few years, thanks in part to these fests, and they've given me all kinds of ways to stretch when I'm stuck. Also, I just love long fanfiction. But I started to get really frustrated by the way fanart was positioned as a "reward" in these challenges, as though the kind of work I do (and the same goes for podfic and mixes and the like) isn't the "real" work of fandom, but only bonus material. Swapping the process around is incredibly fun, and I won't lie, it makes me feel appreciated by the community, which is nice. I've only had a chance to participate in trekreversebang so far, but bandomreversebb had some amazing output last year, and I can't wait to dive into more of these challenges after I graduate!Ugh, I love fandom. I am never leaving, at least not for good.
On another note, can I just say that the locked poll I posted yesterday has really not been going the way I more or less expected? (Honestly, any outcome would have made me love my circle, but ... yeah. <3) I'm still waffling a little, though, so feel free to pop over and try to sway me if you haven't yet (ahem).
