Year in review meme, 2015: fannish edition

[cloudsinvenice]

I got this from umadoshi.

Your main fandom of the year?

In terms of participation online, the Vampire Chronicles. In terms of sheer swooning obsession, Hannibal. I dream about the bloody show! Surprisingly plotty, episodic dreams, in which Hannibal himself is generally very frightening. Yet they're not nightmares.

Your favourite film watched this year?

It's hard to top Mad Max: Fury Road for sheer enjoyment, though I'm conscientiously checking my 2015 movies list just in case. I also loved The Epic of Everest, Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, Wake Wood, Être et Avoir, and a slew of old black and white supernatural and horror movies.

Your favourite book read this year?

As before, Gaywyck tops the list because it's the most recent book I've read that I fell head-over-heels in love with. If I had my book notes book to hand, I'd make some honourable mentions.

Your favourite TV show of the year?

Not just my favourite show, but my favourite season. I know a lot of people had issues with the tone shift of Hannibal season 3, but I absolutely loved it. It felt like a natural extension of what had come before, particularly since we were now following Hannibal so closely, his person suit discarded - it was as if the show assumed his perspective and drew Will into it for the first half of the season. I found the second half less compelling because I felt it didn't quite do Red Dragon justice - I love the book but felt the absence of Dolarhyde's more extensive backstory, and at this point, despite the wonderful performances from the new cast members, I was just impatient to see how things worked out with Hannibal, Will, Margot and Alana.

It's hard to pick my favourite new show because there were a lot of good ones - Agent Carter and Jessica Jones are both good and I hope they stick around for a long time, and while it has its faults (i.e. the lead is wooden), I'm really happy that The Last Kingdom was made, was otherwise so faithful to the books, and has been renewed for a second season. I also liked Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell a lot, and want to read the book this year.

Your favourite online fandom community of the year?

vc_media. It would be easy for fic and discussion to grow stale in a small, embattled fandom that didn't get any new canon for ten years, but that hasn't happened. I've been very poor at being around enough lately, but I'm working to be better in January and beyond.

Also, everyone I've discussed Hannibal with on different sites has been absolutely brilliant.

Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?

The cancellation of Hannibal. It's not as if we weren't warned, and the team did an amazing job of rounding off the story in a way that works both as an ending and a jumping-off point should it ever be able to return, but it's a crying shame nevertheless. I really hopewe can have a film; it's easier to imagine it happening than a series, given that Mads and Hugh will have other work going on, and I really want to see that lush cinematography on the big screen.

And if we're talking about a fandom itself rather than the mishaps of the canon, what happened in the VC fandom on Tumblr in the past 15 months or so was disgusting. Quitting my personal Tumblr and fannish circles there in general has probably saved me a lot of time, but I'd rather not have had to do so because I wanted to stop seeing vicious bullying. Thank goodness we don't get that shit on DW.

Your fictional crush(es) of the year?

Was Oberyn Martell in the season of GoT that ran early in 2015? I can't keep the last couple of seasons straight in my head... so there's him, half the cast of Hannibal, Daniel Craig's James Bond, and probably loads I'm forgetting.

And Tony Stark is still around, of course. :P

The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?

I have mixed feelings because of the things I hear about drama, but I'm still curious about the Mary Renault fandom because so many DW friends are in it and it seems to give rise to many interesting conversations about the historical and social contexts of the books. I've just discovered that I never saw/replied to the last PM I got from a kind member of the fandom ages back, so I must get to that tomorrow. I get a similar vibe about Antonia Forest fandom - I just generally seem to like small book fandoms.

Canon-wise, arcadiaego is tempting me bit by bit into The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - she keeps tweeting all the bizarre things that happen in the episodes and I'm getting more and more intrigued.

Your biggest fan anticipations for 2016?

Sting is supposed to be bringing out a new album and touring it, and when you consider that we went ten years without an original studio album, this is huge. I loved The Last Ship and I'm really excited and curious about what he's working on now.

I know we're unlikely to get The Winds of Winter this year, but I am really looking forward to Game of Thrones coming back. The spoiler aspect is slightly disappointing, but the chances are that a lot of stuff will work differently from in the books anyway.

I'm guessing/hoping we'll get Blood Paradise this year - if so, I'd imagine it'll be announced around March, like with Prince Lestat in 2014. I expect to have very mixed feelings about the actual book, but I adore the activity and discussion a new book provokes in the VC fandom.

Also, Eliot Sumner's album Information is out on the 22nd; I pre-ordered it months ago and am very over-excited about finally hearing the rest of the new songs.

Pretty sure there's other film and TV things I'm forgetting...