About six months ago I admitted a character flaw: that I tend to resist pop-culture phenomenons. At the end of the post I mention that I take more suggestions nowadays.
Well, I realized last week that I’ve done it again – I’ve settled right back into my knee-jerk, resist-what-people-are-fawning-over ways. And no, I’m not talking about Avatar.
I’m talking about Felicia Day.
It’s not her fault, really. I didn’t even really know who she was. My snobbery started with Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Everyone, from friends all the way to Wil Wheaton, said I should watch it – and it was usually in the same breath with “Joss Whedon omg!” Now, I liked Buffy, and I really liked Firefly, but something in my cynical soul has always kept me from really jumping on that man’s bandwagon. So… I just didn’t watch it.
Then, when I heard about The Guild, it was always in the context of, “If you like Dr. Horrible…” or “influenced Dr. Horrible!” or “Joss loves this girl!” So… yeah. You can guess what happened next – or didn’t happen, really.
So then last weekend I was in the company of lots of people who said I should watch those things. And I couldn’t get away, and they had laptops. Up went Dr. Horrible. Surprisingly, I liked it much more than I thought I would (Whedon’s songs usually grate on me). Then they showed me the first episode of The Guild.
Oh my God. I laughed so hard I was crying. I’ve played World of Warcraft for years, but most of the time I was solo – I’ve only belonged to an actual guild for six months or so. In that respect, I’m almost glad I didn’t see The Guild until now, when I can appreciate it all the more. I only saw the first episode that day, but then I went home and watched the rest of it. All in one sitting.
Now I’m something of an instant fangirl. One way late to the party, but there just the same – and I’m not afraid to admit it. And as for Felicia Day herself… I’m not going to pretend I’m as cool as she is, but she’s easy to relate to. She reminds me of some of my friends. Now I’m following her on Twitter, and she’s probably my second-favorite celebrity to read, behind Grant Imahara.
My name is J, and I like discovering things on my own, in my own time – but I’m trying to change that.
So tell me: what else should I be watching? Or reading?
About j
Have you seen the music video for “do you wanna date my avatar”? Funny stuff. And no blue kitties.
Legend of Neil. http://effinfunny.com/legend-of-neil Felicia day is also in it with a small part. The story itself is a total parody of Legend of Zelda. The humor is good and the production values are excellent.
./shutdown also seems nifty. http://www.myspace.com/slashshutdown I’ve had it on my “need to watch” list for a while, but I’ve only seen bits of one episode.
I get where you are coming from with the resisting of pop-culture. There are a lot of things I’ll dislike merely because someone (or lots of someones) tell me it is the best thing EVAR. Something in the way it comes out just makes me grate my teeth.
To keep up my ‘i refuse to conform to society’s trends’ cred, I tend to snob out on things the mass populus is raving about. But, I’m getting over it…and it all started with Buffy. I refused to watch when it was on TV, but I caught some episodes at 5 a.m. when I had been laid-off from a job. Insta-fan, which then led to insta-whedon fan and suddenly, I was ok with going with the popular as long as it fit what I would’ve liked with or without those folks.
So, if you want a bandwagon to jump on–I suggest for books: Neil Gaiman (if you’re not already there), Martin Millar, Terry Pratchett. And heck, I’ll even throw in Lady GaGa because she’s just pure poppy entertainment!
The guild was the first thing in years I can actually say my sister and I both agree on. She recommended it to me and I eventually got bored enough to watch.
But I can understand the desire to avoid things that are trendy (even in the geek realm). None the less, I have found that I have fairly mainstream tastes for a “geek”. ^_^
have you tried ” HAWP ” aka Hey Ash whatcha playin. My favorite is the puzzle quest skit and that is what i normally start people on. Some of the skits are not very good.. or maybe they just dont appeal to me. But when that brother sister team is on man are they funny.
Again Puzzlequest is my favorite. and phyconaughts is prolly my second fav. It really set up who these characters are.
Hope you enjoy!