The internet gap.

I'm laying in bed analyzing...'cause what else are you going to do when you're unfortunately awake at not quite 8 on a Saturday morning.  I began in the pleasant task of thinking about how I was going to become a zombie for this evening.  Quite pleasant, but this, of course, lead to concerns about the masses of people that are going to be in my house.  This would not be a concern if I had some party support.  

I'm not sure I'm going to...so I started rambling in that direction which lead me to an interesting place.  

The young ladies that DB is friends with should be people with whom I have things in common--and they are, to a certain degree.  I even think that if we had all been the same age together, we might be really good friends ('specially L and me), but they are from the "I grew up with/on the ninternet and with video games" crew.  Exposure to this is super fascinating.   Now, I've got friends who are not much older who are more like me in relation to the world, so I know it is a matter of upbringing as well, but roll with me here for a while:

I'm thinking back to my first and second year of undergrad (which puts me right in the age bracket), and the mindset that lead me to complete and total obsession with Darth Maul.  I drank nothing but Pepsi products all summer (and I hate Pepsi and Mountain Dew); I wanted those Star Wars cans.  I had merchandise like a crazy woman.  I sought supplemental entertainment on the internet, joined e-groups, wrote my own fanfiction.  I even had small giggle fits whenever I ran into a cardboard standee of Maul unexpectedly.  DB brought me comics signed by martial artist and Sith Lord Ray Park.  Everything fed into my drooling obsession, but the internet was new...the communal THING that is fandom was relatively new.  I didn't know how to break into it, so (as I did all through high school with Gargoyles), I fringed.  

My third year of school, I lived with a girl who introduced me to some (then odd) things about the internet, but now, especially with facebook and myspace, I think they're the norm.  My roomie had a webcam and a blog; she had friends with the same set up, and they had followers. People who just liked the window into the lives' of others, and they became mini-celebrities just for being themselves....without the zillion-dollar TLC contract.  It was pretty new (at least to me) at the time.  

It also was part of the reason why I started to become annoyed with my roommate situation. I didn't understand, or appreciate, the "famous" for nothing, cult-of-personality that was creeping into my living space.  

A few years later, I started spending a lot of time reading Harry Potter fanfic.  I became a casual observer to the phenomenon that is fandom.  I didn't post a lot, just read, watched and followed certain authors.  While there was certainly talent I admired (there are a lot of people writing out there who could make money at it if they wrote their own characters), I started to find that the internet fed hive-mind like whoa.  And it feeds the cycle of obsession...in a way that seems to have a distinctly young, female quality to it.  

Cults-of-personality left and right as people worshipped at the alter of others' art and writing.  The art and writing is the spontaneous outpouring of happiness the creator takes in (let's just use) Rowling's work--and then others partake, and the cult of Rowling expands to include the cult of these writers and artists (like Saints to God??).  And high spirits feed high spirits...and so it seems like the mood in such forums is always one of great excitement and silliness.  

(Part of me always thinks of Humbert Humbert--in the wry tones of Jeremy Irons--"Ah fame.  Ah Femina." as he observes Lola and some Hollywood magazines.)

This culture of disjointed distance friendships, I think, has given rise to "meet-ups" and a greater number of conventions than there have ever been previously.  Comic/entertainment industry conventions make sense to me.  People should see what's out there, what's up-and-coming, and have a chance to display their work.  Conventions/fan meet-ups that are cropping up now for a specific fandom just sort of confuse me.  

I understand on some level.  There is a powerful normalizing effect of being amongst people with the same mindset.  This is why I enjoy a con or two a year (that, and I like costumes).  It is also good, in many ways, to take these friendships made in cyberspace to a flesh and blood level, but often, when your friendship is based on "OMG bunny!Draco is so funny! *squeeeeeee*" translating that into anything else seems difficult.  ...or at least translating that level of excitement into something that suits daily life seems difficult.  I'm not just basing this on L and Bosie and their friend J.  I have, in my casual arm-chair sociologist way, listened to recordings and watched movies made by artists and writers at meet-ups.  Granted, the stuff that gets posted is filtered for fandom content as well...so they're not going to post the times they sat around talking about elections or rent or if they like strawberry ice cream--unless Draco likes strawberry ice cream...possibly a moot point.  

Regardless, there is something bizarre in the way people who are heavily involved in fandom via livejournal and other such forums relate to each other.   And I just don't really know how to get there anymore.  

I can be silly.  I'm often silly, in fact, and it often relates to geeky things.  (Ask me about how much I giggle at Star Wars references in ANYTHING...or about Zombieland OMG.)  But there is this understanding gap that has nothing to do with age and everything to do with internet and the way people in fandoms relate to each other.  

And I losing my train of thought here entirely....this was all so tight in my brain when I got out of bed.  bah.  Must be time for brain food.  

Ideas from the peanut gallery?