She doesn't follow the internet rumour mill, so blogger Stacey Whittle wonders if this makes her less of a fan
I am a geek, or a nerd whichever your own personal preference is - I’m not bothered I’m happy to admit to being both. My geek credentials are pretty spiffy to be honest; I write a blog for the best geeky magazine in the whole world, I have a podcast that is hosted by the mighty (and mighty pretty for that matter) Geek Syndicate . I am a comic loving, convention attending, novel reading, game playing, genre fanatic. I own my bodyweight in box sets and I try to convert the uninitiated.
I have figurines and original artwork festooned around my home as if it were a permanent nerdy Christmas. I have genre t-shirts and mugs, and handbags and badges and I even have a Dalek knitting pattern beckoning to me from my knitting bag. I am bringing up my daughters in "The Way Of The Geek".
But there is one area where I fail utterly and miserably at my chosen way of life... I feel absolutely no excitement at all about the rumour mill. I don’t get excited at film gossip, or those first conceptual art releases. I am never going to get excited at a hint of a famous actor being cast in an important role. I don’t like to read those articles discussing an upcoming comic/film/novel/TV programme which are based on wishlists and speculation.
I do "get it" - I understand why everyone else hits Twitter the minute it's written somewhere on the internet that The Riddler will be the new villain in the next Batman movie, or if there's some vague possibility of a new Superman film. But the stills of actors in costume give me no thrill or need to minutely take the outfit apart looking for its potential wrongness or become incoherent with joy or rage and the hint of a director being assigned.
What has gone wrong? How can I fix my lack of excitement? I think I need some sort of fandom counselling. Ideas welcome!
This is a personal article by blogger Stacey Whittle. Are you slavishly following every Hollywood rumour, or do you wait until you read a full interview in the pages of SFX ? Is Stacey unusual for steering clear of internet tittle-tattle and fan speculation, or do you share her disinterest? All comments welcome.
