lunabee34

1. I have a friend who has opened an Etsy shop: Almost Wicked Stitcher. She's sold a lot of stuff, so her inventory is a bit low right now, but I've seen those scarves in person, and they're really, really pretty. Might want to check it out as the holidays approacheth.

2. On the way home from town today, Emma and I listened to one of my Sam~n~Dean mixed tapes full of songs from the first season of the show, and I was struck by how much I miss the way the show used to use music. And I'm not just talking soundtrack here. I miss the score, that hauntingly beautiful score that pervades "Houses of the Holy," for example. But I really miss the way SPN used songs in those first few seasons--not as filler but as commentary on the action or the emotional state of the characters or sometimes as humor. The music felt like another character to me, one who has sadly died along with Ellen and Jo and Mary and Jessica. This week's episode with it's brief visit to CCR reminded me a great deal of how much fun (and often how sad sad sad sad LOL) the music in this show used to be. But I feel like the show has changed so much anyway that IDK; like it's got a different mission or is trying to target a different audience or something. I feel like I've been watching two completely different shows, one that ended with season five and a second, tangentially related one that began in season 6.

So here's the thing: I have been pleasantly surprised by this season of SPN. I didn't really care for season 6, and I was expecting to be bored and disappointed with season 7. Joy of all joys, I am digging the show again. Last Friday's episode with James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter was a heck of a lot of fun in particular.

And yet. And but.

I realize this resembles nothing so much as a whine, but ( Spoilers for SPN season and also possibly unfair comparisons to Rodney McKay )

counteragent made this really amazing vid, Coin Operated Boy, that got me to thinking about Sam vs. Soulless Sam. First I want to talk about the vid and what I think it's saying and then share my own (probably controversial LOL) feelings on Soulless Sam.

counteragent gives the following summary of the vid:

Summary: I* want a coin operated boy**
*Part 1: Dean. Part 2: Dean & Fandom. Part 3: Dean & OFC
**ensouled Sam

( SPOILERS FOR VID )

So, after I watched this vid, I realized that my reaction to Soulless Sam seems to be the polar opposite of a lot of fandom's. I find Soulless Sam quite refreshing. Don't get me wrong. I love a rousing round of "Sam!" "Dean!" accompanied by stoically repressed sobs as much as anyone, but, man, was Sam not taking himself or anything else seriously a really nice reprieve from the metric ton of heroic manpain that usually characterizes both brothers.

Soulless Sam is funny. Really, really funny.

Soulless Sam, much like Anya in BtVS, gets to speak the uncomfortable truths that no one else wants to acknowledge, and he also forces the characters around him (and the audience) to think very carefully about the decisions they make and the potential ramifications of their choices. For example, Soulless Sam is all about the Big Picture. It's important to note that Soulless Sam is not evil. SPN didn't make that Angel/Angelus good/evil dichotomy error. Soulless Sam decides he's still a hunter, and he's still into killing the Big Bad, and he's all about the Big Picture of hunting. Soulless Sam is efficient and practical and ruthless and okay with the collateral damage that comes along with this approach to hunting. Soulless Sam takes hunting (which occurs on the microcosmic level--one town, one family touched by evil, one small human drama interrupted that the hunter tries to set to rights) and turns it into a war in which casualties are accepted and methods condoned that would be otherwise condemned. We've seen hunters like Soulless Sam already--Gordon (although he's got loads of other issues going on), the hunter that wants to kill the rougarou without exploring any other options, Grampy Campbell. And these dudes all have souls! So Soulless Sam becomes a kind of commentary on hunting and how psychologically damaging it can be for the hunter. In order to do the job, at some point the hunter has to stop caring about *one person* so much, *one family* so much, and start thinking about the many people, the many families that can be potentially saved.

( Also, there was never any... )

So, I've been thinking about something lately. It's an amalgamation of reading SPN Big Bang and looking back through the first recs I made in the SPN fandom.

I want to write a season one or two SPN fic. You know what I'm talking about. Something gritty and uncertain, saving people hunting things the family business, two boys in a car, some goddamn hope on the horizon. Something causeways or traveller or mikhale (who else wants it to be Joel? LOL) might have written in the wayback. And I don't think I can do it.

I've been trying to pin down why and I think it's because I know what happens next. That's never been a problem for me before. I had no problem writing Basement Fic in BtVS even though I'd seen the whole series and ariadne83 and I are rocking Our Own Private Bang even though SG-1 and SGA are both over and there's no surprises left there. But for some reason, I cannot get out of the emotional headspace of season four--or really, to be more accurate, the moment that Dean made the deal with the crossroads demon. That seems the irrevocable moment for me, the invisible line I'm having trouble crossing.

I want to write this thing that is bereft of the apocalypse, where Dean's soul is stuck in his chest safe and sound, and the worst things we've got to worry about are: Where's Dad and what does the YED want? But I feel like I can't shed the unremitting loss and sorrow of the subsequent three seasons, like it's going to bleed over somehow into anything I try to write. Does that make sense? (It's like how I won't get the subtext in a show at all (*cough* McShep *cough*) for three seasons and then suddenly when I do see it, I can't help but see it from episode one on, even if it wasn't there in the least for me on the first go round.)

Does anybody else have this problem? What do you do? How do you fix it? Are there any concrete writing strategies you use?

What do these things all have in common? I do believe it is the Lorraine sobbing and snotting and wailing and making more hand gestures at the computer screen than Rodney McKay ever dreamed was possible in a forty five minute period.

( Let's just say I wish I cried like a Halliwell--Piper to be exact )

Very Important Question that has been bugging me since the season 2 finale:

Demon blood? Really? Don't you mean host blood? Cause any blood coming out of a possessed human belongs to the host, not the demon. Demons don't have corporeality in SPN and so they don't have blood. This has always thrown me out of the mytharc. How do y'all wank it? *wink*

I have seen a lot of posts that are highly critical of this episode so

( this dump of squee may not be for you )

Huh. This got really long. Like, really long. With analogies. *hides*

I have a theory. It isn't bunnies.

( SPOILERS for Death Takes a Holiday )

I have a very important question. Hahahahhaah. Not. :)

Although widespread popularity of a fandom does seem to depend somewhat on whether the canon is closed or not (and how long it's been closed) media and book fandoms don't die the second the screen goes dark in the finale or six months after the book hits the shelf. Some fandoms have been around for decades and people are still happily writing and reading stories there.

So, my question is as follows: Is the same true for RPF? How long is Jared/Jensen going to last? Will the popularity of this pairing last only as long as Supernatural is on the air or ten years from now when both actors are working on different projects will we all still be Padackling? And if RPF pairings do have the same kind of longevity as media based fanfic pairings, does the nature of the RPF change to accommodate that these actors may not be spending any time with each other anymore? (I guess what I mean here is that ten years from now will we still be reading about Jared and Jensen hooking up on the set of Supernatural or will be reading about how Jared and Jensen never see each other because one of them is filming in Romania?) Clearly, RPF as a genre is around to stay; we're always gonna have CW RPF of some sort. I just wonder how long Jared and Jensen (and OMG! Chad Michael Murray! Lookit the pretty I found. *points up*) will be among the principal players.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. I have a Babylon 5 tape (from the manufacturer, not taped off the TV) with the episodes "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari," "A View From the Gallery," and "End Game" on it that's up for grabs. I'll mail it to anyone who wants it.

2. I'm going to be in New Orleans in Augsut for four or five days. Anybody from around there and wanna meet up?

Now for the commentary:

I loved this show from the first episode, but on this rewatch, I'm starting to realize how cleverly it is crafted. I hadn't realized the way tht components of Sam and Dean's characterization that become so important later are subtly laid out for us from the very beginning. I love that this show gives me new things to think about every time that I watch and that it keeps on impressing me even though I've seen some of these episodes a million times.

( SPN Season One: Disc Two )

PS: I realized that in these posts, I'm just briefly touching on ideas about family that I have fleshed out much more completely in We Are Family: The Notion of Family in Supernatural

What Cannot Be Unlearned by katjad Sam/Dean Adult This is like Sam’s love poem to Dean, the love poem he can never say aloud but has instead written in the smile on his face, the sweat on the curve of his spine, the heat rising in waves off an endless empty highway. I don’t think I can say enough good things about the way this fic makes me feel, which is the point, right? That’s why we all write, isn’t it? Because we want someone else to feel, deep down in her gut, this thing we also feel. I come away from this piece feeling like I’ve been made privy to something sacred.

Look Into my Father’s Eyes by Pretty Much All the SPN BNFs Sam/Dean (and John voyeurism) Adult This is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time; it’s deliberate bad!fic and boy is it bad. It’s written round robin style, so everyone gets a go at making Deen and Sammeh make wild monkey sex, and also, adorable ass babes.

The Process of the Taking by antiship Sam/Dean Adult *goes all incoherent and flaily* Y’all. Wow. Sam’s powers start to change and OMG does he use them for good instead of evil. LOL This contains possibly the most inventive sex scene I’ve read in fandom, and it’s hard to do inventive with sex. I mean, we’ve pretty much been doing it since the beginning of time, so not much room for novelty anymore. But this? Is novel. And also a great read.

Twenty Things the Winchesters Never Talk About by sanj Adult Sam/Jess, Dean/Cassie, Dean/OMC, Sam/OMC, mention of other Sam or Dean relationships This is pretty much made of awesome. It should have eleventy million comments, and somehow does not. *boggles* Go read and give some love. It’s a quickie and you won't be disappointed, thus sprake Lorraine.

The Devil’s Gate by hesychasm SPN/BtVS crossover Jo/Faith Adult This is, quite simply put, magnificent. As we all know, the worlds of SPN and BtVS do not seamlessly mesh. The major sticking point is vampire lore which differs drastically on the two shows. What the author does here is acknowledge the differences in the mythos of each show without trying to “fix” those differences in what would doubtlessly be a ridiculous and forced exercise. The insight into both Jo and Faith’s characters is nothing short of amazing. This is one of the best fics I’ve come across in this fandom. It’s well plotted, it’s engaging, and oh yeah. Hot. We just don’t get enough girlslash in SPN, y’all, mostly because canon really doesn’t allow for it. *sad sigh*

These External Manners of Lament by kroki_refur Bobby-centric gen I know you guys have already read this because it’s been recced a million times over and deservedly so. This is stellar, stellar reading. Dean’s not the only one who’s lost Sam after AHBL1, and he’s not the only one who loves him either. *clutches heart* *weeps* *smiles*

Never Forget a Familiar Face: Wrist-borne Timepieces in Supernatural by caffienekitty Remember how weird it was in AHBL1 when Dean recognized Ash’s watch and not, say, the corpsified remains of his mullet? Major plothole, PTB, and Caffienekitty tells us just why.