picture in my mind

I don't know where my brain was today. I must be seriously lacking rest, which is why I shouldn't be online but sleeping instead. But I am stubborn like that. I sort of blundered through the later half of today. Coupled with the fact that I was fasting, I became rather cranky and extra blur. Such that I spoiled Afidah's stack of film because I switched on the white light in the dark room before sealing the box. So the top bit of each film is black. :( KARUT. And on the way home, I was dozing off really badly in the train. Really lah, so embarassing! Usually, I think I sleep rather decently and manage to sit straight but I was so damn sleepy this time. I was like leaning almost 45 degrees into the next person's personal space. Then at Simei, I groggily woke up and thought it was Tampines and rushed off the train. BODOH. Actually, I realised just before I stepped out the train doors, but I thought I'd already embarrassed myself enough and pretended my house was at Simei. Nyaha.

And here I ramble a little about the concept of fandom.

I've been thinking about fan-speak lately. You know, fan jargon the likes of which if you've never fangirl-ed, you'll never know? Words like fanon, fic, canon, AU, PWP, slash, het, BNF, meme, keyboard smash, OTP and all the weird acronyms for pairings depending on which fandom you're talking about - LoVe, HPGW, H/D, Wincest (gah,scary >.<) etc. Nowadays, the name squish for pairings is becoming highly popular, at least in JE fandom: Yamaki, Kamepi, Tegopi, Tomapi, Ryopi, Piyui, Pin and Tegomassuki. Like WTH man. It amuses me greatly.

I think someone should do a study on fandom. Like study how these groups of girls crop up and establish such big communities online that share fan stuff and interact and develop the fan world. I am fascinated. Truly.

Reference:

fandom = whatever book, show, movie, story, actor, personality etc that people are obsessed about.

canon = reality i.e. what actually happens in the real book/show/movie/etc

fanon = NOT canon; creation of fans; e.g. in Harry Potter fandom, for some reason, Draco Malfoy is highly perceived as some gorgeous, rich, misunderstood, witty and highly redeemable dude of Veela ancestry. HAHA. This is very very far from JK Rowling 's version of Draco.

fic = abbreviation for fanfiction, which if you don't know, (I am shocked!), are literary works written by fans about their fandom to satisfy their insatiable thirst for more canon.

AU = alternate universe; meaning that the fan disregards actual canon entirely when doing fanwork. e.g. Harry Potter is a prince of 16th century England and Hermione a princess with whom he is forced to wed. Personally, I think good AU works are hard to come by. Because seriously, who wants to read about Hermione worrying about arranged marriages and fitting into corsets, and nothing about magic?!

PWP = Plot what plot; this is basically fanfiction in which the fan writes crappy pointless stuff like smut or trashy humour.

slash = same-sex situations; nowadays, this is the dominating sexual preference among fans. go figure. -_-

het = male/female pairings; slowly approaching extinction in fandom, in my opinion. scary, I tell you.

BNF = big name fan; e.g. the notorious Cassandra Claire who wrote the Draco Trilogy; they are kind of the 'elite' of the fans whom all other fans 'cling' to; usually BNFs are great writers who produce fantastic reviews, fanfiction or fanart.

meme = I still am not sure what a meme is! HAHA. I thought I knew what it was. I think it might be like a survey done by a fan for fans? not sure.

keyboard smash = fan-squee in keyboard fashion; it's basically being so excited about something that you type incoherently this: lkhfnsydagfbnuasydgfabsuynfksaniuf vyqowygp qhJDKW;,KLMHASGNASDFJCBHN; actually, I think this might not be exclusive to fandoms. Eunice does it quite a lot.

OTP = one true pairing; a fan's favourite pairing

LoVe = Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars; this is one of my favourite name squishes!

HPGW = Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley; sometimes it's so funny to see a slew of capital letters in a fanfic summary, like this: HPGW HGDM RLSB SSMM etc. go figure -_-. But I think this sort of abbreviation has phased out, in place of adorable name squishes?

H/D = Harry/Draco; this is the default manner to write pairings before they come up with more creative ways.

Wincest = Dean/Sam Winchester from Supernatural; called so because they're brothers! incest, yo! >.< Rest assured, I keep absolutely clear of this scary pairing (and in fact of every kind of slash). Homosexuality of any kind still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand, I'm very sorry.

And a list (not exhaustive one) of JE pairings:

Yamaki = Yamapi + Maki (my OTP <3!)

Tomapi = Ikuta Toma + Yamapi

Kamepi = Kamenashi + Yamapi

Ryopi = Ryo + Yamapi

Piyui = Yamapi + Aragaki Yui

Tegopi = Tegoshi + Yamapi

Pin = Yamapi + Jin

Tegomassuki = Tegoshi + Masuda + Maki

Wahahaha. Yamapi is in almost everything. :P Someone did say he's somewhat like the little black dress of slash-dom. My my. Such crazy fans.

There are many other fandoms, each with their own exclusive language. Like Star Trek fans are called Trekkies and Battlestar Galactica fans called... something else? I can't quite remember now. And this is only like a glimpse into the crazy place that is fandom. And I know only the bare minimum to survive as I read LJ communities. So interesting, I tell you.