rps ambivalence public/private; SGA?

[lobelia321]

The private realm: A Habermasian saga
Having just posted linkpics of Cristiano Ronaldo's private life with Merche Romero, I feel especially qualified in expressing my reservations on the topic of the privacy of real persons...

Thus, my sheepish credentials entirely transparent, I still feel, however, uneasy at these pics of the Ronaldo family at play: http://www.fmforums.co.uk/forums/index.php?s=32308421af739b2e7542088574c74203&showtopic=57821

I have two reactions: On the one hand, I'm going omg guh @-@ liek candid pix 1111 (and also: aw, that is so sweet, is that his mother whose lap he is leaning into? oh Mary Mamma). On the other hand, I'm thinking how awful it is that paparazzi lurk everywhere, how vile they are, how it is problematic when not only a famous person but their whole family as well get roped in; and in one of the pics, he seems to be looking suspiciously right at the camera (can he see someone moving in the bushes?).

So, I feel loath to upload these pics or link them but they are in my brain, of course, and who knows how long my resistance will last?

Youth is wasted on the young, but good god, it becomes them
Also, my god, on another topic: how young these players are! Having mellowed absurdly towards Rooney since having written him, I'm thinking '20!!!!' and then I look at Cristianonechen: '21!!!!!!' As they say in German, blutjung (blood young).

SWP, or SGA? What SGA?
Apparently, the new series has started and the first ep is available to download. Have I downloaded it? No. Am I dying to see it? No. Have I looked at my Default Friends list today? No. Am I instead scrolling through pages and pages of my Football Customised Friends list? Yes. Am I ogling at pics on soccergirlz.de? Did I keep the weekend supplement of listings of next season's premiership fixtures? Did I cut out and blu-tac a newspaper photo of CR17 to the boiler above the washing machine for daily perusal?? Yes, yes and yes again.

Ah woe, the obsession continues.

The thing is, that in SGA I read thousands of fic. Every third post at least on the SGA comms I membered is a fic. I read so many fics that I got very behind with fb. Maybe this is why I didn't meet people properly; the fb I gave was either non-existent or rushed; I don't know. In football fandom, there's a fic maybe once a day. I can read at leisure and feedback and talk with people.

Also, people post like lunatics. Post, post, post. And they love to talk: endless commentage and back-and-forth in threads. And they comment in my LJ! I don't know; in SGA I seemed to do most of the commenting in others' posts; I didn't get all that much back. Time will tell and all that but I feel as if I've made more friends in football fandom in the last 4 weeks than I did in 12 months of SGA.

Also, posting fics. But oh dear, 'tis past midnight, I've turned into a pumpkin and lost the digits on my hand so can type no more. That must wait for another post because it is a big'n'knotty topic.

Anyway, *waves at former lotrips friends who've possibly scattered to all corners of the wind in football aghastness*. :-D

Note to sheldrake: Did you perchance send me t'fic? And if so, to what address? yahoo or gmail?

Comments

[andolinn.livejournal.com]

Where to start responding to this one... Yes, I agree about the ambivalence about peeking into people's private lives. That said, I just posted a gorgeous - obviously public - picture of Canna and his son. But I was cooing, not perving over that one. On the one hand I dislike it, on the other I periodically engage in it. I still prefer FPS though.

Am I instead scrolling through pages and pages of my Football Customised Friends list? *joins you in the land of the lost* I too seem to have forsaken old friends for football friends and for some of the same reasons. I get tired of only communicating when I comment in someone else's LJ. I understand that I don't write fic, so some of that is inevitable, but really.
I wrote once, "I came for the slash, but stayed for the friends." So, if I'm commenting to people, it's because I want to interact. Otherwise, I could just lurk and not waste time with my slow, hunt-and-peck typing.

I feel bad though; there are several writers whom I adore (as people as well as writers) whose fics I just haven't gotten to lately. *sigh*

orlisbunny said that you might be able to recommend some of the footie authors whose stuff is locked. I don't really want to go around indiscriminately friending people and then finding their fics full of typos and plot holes large enough to drive a Mack truck through. That's awkward... *smiles hopefully*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

It's precisely this ambivalence that I was trying to figure out last night. Because I went and I OGLED. And then I did a double-take of EEW, PAPARAZZI SCUM. 15 minutes later I was posting private pics, except they were some months older and I had seen some of them so often already they had lost their edge. And I thought, how hypocritical am I? But this is always the accompaniment to rps (I keep having this discussion with cathexys who insists that rps is actually very much like fps but it's not, I wail!): this ambivalence to the spying. In fps, this simply doesn't exist. We are already 'spying' on the lives of Harry Potter, Rodney McKay and whomever.

I came for the slash, but stayed for the friends.
Absolutely! And you know, I recognise this line! I am now sure that we must have crossed paths (or I stumbled across your path, at any rate, at some point in the past! Because I know this line! And I remember reading it and liking it!!

It's the football fandom that made me turn around and re-think my SGA fandom. And I realised how the SGA has been a bit one-sided.

I get tired of only communicating when I comment in someone else's LJ.
Absolutely. It took the gregariousness and egalitarianism of football fandom to make me remember how lovely that is and how I haven't had it much recently (except with my oldest of lotrips friends, *g*).

Re orlisbunny on locked posts: I really have no idea. I am not aware of reading anyone's flocked posts but then, they may have friended me without my knowing so I can read their stuff without being aware of it...? I have to say there are not many football fics out there at all. I read what comes up on footballslash and word_cup_slash. Authors I've liked are grondfic and blankversesfic, recced on my del.ici.ous.

[andolinn.livejournal.com]

You're making me think about the slash/friends thing now. I know I've written it before, but who knows, I could have picked it up from somewhere. What is it they say - imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

It's true though. Men read porn and women build relationships! It's much more fun to share our obsessions. And, of course, for any relationship to work it needs to be mutual. I have no problem with complementing an author on their fics, if I've enjoyed them, but I don't feel obligated to do so if that person never stops by. Not all the time - we're all incredibly busy and this is supposed to be voluntary and fun, not a burden - but sometimes.

As for the recs, I've found the first two and will look into the others. Thanks!

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

lobelia kindly recc'd me. If you want to check me out, please just drop by my last open posting and say you want to Friend me. I'll then Friend you abck, and you can see ... whatever it is *g*

[andolinn.livejournal.com]

Consider yourself friended. Loved the meme by the way. Very clever!

[yanks02.livejournal.com]

I really hate paparazzi pics, but sometimes I don't even think that they are paparazzi pics until I've showed them around. Like the one I posted the other day of him at the pool thing with the sunscreen, the only thing I could think was guh and then a couple of days later I saw it again and was like "okay I can't believe I posted that." I usually look at them, even for just a few seconds, because like you said, it's something candid we don't ever get to see. But, I think on a certain level, we shouldn't get to see that. Celebrities are people too and they should be able to spend time with their girlfriend/boyfriend *cough*/family/etc without someone hiding out in the bushes snapping photos and selling them to the highest bidder. The only one I liked of the family pics was when he was walking at the airport, because that's not exactly Paparazzi...I mean it is, but they aren't hiding behind trees and shit.

So yeah, I've got this weird thing where I always click to see them and then usually get too squicked by the fact that we are spying on his personal life to continue to look at them.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

the only thing I could think was guh and then a couple of days later I saw it again and was like "okay I can't believe I posted that."
I know! I think this is what I was trying to get at last night, the ambivalence that I myself find myself embroiled in. I suppose in the end these are the hazards that come built-in with rps, and in the end everyone has to decide for herself where her own rps boundaries are. Because the pictures are there after all. And, *coughs*, I have pics of nude Brad Pitt on my hard drive that he had pulled from the shops, that he took legal actions against -- so I know he does not want me to have those pics on my hard drive.

The safest and happiest pics are the ones from actual matches. To me, they are like the core-canon. The other pics are fringe-canon, extra information and sometimes TMI. Then there are the photo shoots and ads; but they are so posed; the fantastic thing about match footage is that it's public and candid. When CR17 weeps on-pitch, I feel wonderfully voyeurish and ogle to my heart's content. (And the heart is very content indeed upon these occasions. *sighs in sidetracked fashion*)

able to spend time with their girlfriend/boyfriend
Yes, why do we never get to see all those boyfriend pics? Bring 'em on, is what I say.

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

I'm not too fond of paparazzi pics either. It's the downside of fame, isn't it...though I have found myself drooling over a pap pic of Viggo Mortensen smoking a cig while walking down a street, or pics of Freddie and his brother. I usually skip them though, because they make me feel like a voyeur and not in a good way.

New fandoms, new friends, it's what makes me love LJ. You are so right, the friends from the football fandom are very enthusiastic, and I think it's something that will not fade, now that the Club football is starting again. It's not like with LOTR, three movies and that's it :/
We share a love for the game, and a love for the men who play the game.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

It's not like with LOTR, three movies and that's it :/
Well, to be fair, my lotrips friends have not faded; the lotrips lust has faded with most of them (although there are some die-hards) but the friends themselves have stayed. Which has been really nice. I hope for same re football!! But as far as canon is concerned: this fandom is NEVER going to go away, is it? We are doomed! *descends into the bowels of clubland...*

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

but the friends themselves have stayed.

Yes, mine too and I'm glad they have. It wouldn't have been much of a friendship if people start deserting you because your interests change.

Ah yes, the joys of clubland...and the Champions League and UEFA-Cup dramas.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Don't tell me about clubland.... I spent too much time today ogling clubsites, from Real Madrid to AZ Alkmaaar... (my parents live near the new AZ Alkmaaar stadium so I could, theoretically, go!! And they play Arsenal on 8 August!!!).

But gadzooks, it is hot.

[lhuneldaiel.livejournal.com]

Your parents live near AZ's stadium? Cool! Yeah I know they play Arsenal...Freddie baby *implodes* you should go!!! Oh God I am horrible.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

you should go!!! Oh God I am horrible.
Are you going? How are you horrible? I know I should go! And my parents would love a visit. *falls into the mire* Well, I'm sure though that at this time of year and in a friendly they'll hardly play their first squad...

[o-chan.livejournal.com]

I have somewhat of mixed feelings with paparazzi photography. There's a bit of borderline I think for me. If they're just walking down the street or something, I'm not too fussed. But if they're peering into someone's house, holiday, etc, I'm a bit uneasy with it.
Then again, in a way, I'm a bit of a paparazzi as well. Not to that extent though. I shoot quite a lot of bands. And have been to quite a few after parties and what not. I've seen quite incriminating things going on within them. I've shot some of them but hardly ever release them to the public.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

have somewhat of mixed feelings with paparazzi pho
Yes, absolutely, that's what I was trying to figure out for myself last night. It's the ambivalence. I SEE the pics, I OGLE at the pics, then I suddenly go EEW, EVIL PAPARAZZI but the pics are out there and they are in my head. It's the inevitable accompaniment of rps, I think, and in the final analysis, everyone has to figure out her own boundaries on this one.

And you are? You are a band!paparazza? Ooh, I'd love to hear about it, in the style of 'A Week In the Life Of...' I could then call you paparazzi scum and go and write a fic about a paparazzo who ends up lusting after the footballer he was sent out to snap and it could be very angsty and oh, very ethical, and also very hot and sort of private detectivish; in fact, the paparazzo could be Geoffrey Wainthropp and you could be my research re low-down on the papa's life, and there could be naughty shenanigans involving a zoom lens.

Um.

[o-chan.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHAH
Oh, I have SO many stories. SO many.

If I wanted to know what hotel people stayed in, give me about a day, and I'll be able to know. I've met Iggy Pop at his hotel. And also Dylan Moran as well. I've snuck into afterparties for bands.
I knew the Greece team stayed at the Radisson when they played the friendly against Australia in Melbourne. So if a certain footballer *cough* decides to come to Melbourne, tell me. ahahahahaha.

AHAHAHA you need to write that fic.. ahahahahaha do it do it do it

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I sort of did... Scroll down. *g*

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

Some people, of course, court the parps. For example, extracts from Rooney's upcoming autobiography (WOT!! at 20?? We'll have to hear about his every last poo-poo aged 18 months!) appeared in one of the Sunday Rags at the weekend. (More to come if anyone's interested - Mail on Sunday.. Erm .. yeah, well I had my Mum staying with me and SHE bought it).

But on the whole, I'd agree about photo-intrusion; and indeed, worry overmuch about rps. Even though I'm so hooked on footie at the moment that I'm contemplating watching the domestic games when they reappear.

And - yup - I too have grown away (and up??) from fandoms. I revisit LOTR from time to time (Orcs are timeless!), but sadly, I left a series of Harry Potter stories unfinished. To be fair, this was mainly because I got mugged by Canon when HBP came out .. but also there was just so much STUPIDITY within that humungous fandom, which exerted a kind of creeping fascination - rather like watching a 5th-rate soap unfold. So on the whole I'm glad I got out whilst still sane!

In some ways, of course, it's very exciting - what next, I wonder? Will I fall yet again for Captain Jack Sparrow (or indeed Captain Jack of Who/Torchwood)? Ooh .. Capt Jack/Capt Jack anyone?? Or will I suddenly decide that Bradley-out-of-East-Enders ought to check out Comedy-stereotype-Yorkshire-Bert? Now I feel sick ....

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Okay, I know you wrote some other words but all I'm seeing at the moment is
Captain Jack/Captain Jack.

*dies*

*revives*

CJ: I dunno, which way does the compass point? Here, you seem a likely lad, take the rudder for a while; there's a sea monster I need to fight.
CJ: Sea monster? You mean that dalek in disguise? Wait till I whip out my laser beam neutrino dematerializing gun!
CJ: What's that in your pocket? Is that rum?
CJ: You're beautiful when you're thirsty.

And yes, Rooney's public 'auto' bio (auto as in automaton, I suspect -- so totally ghost it's spectral) -- but it is hilarious, the bit about sleeping with the vacuum cleaner on.

Even though I'm so hooked on footie at the moment that I'm contemplating watching the domestic games when they reappear.
This is the first time in my life that I have shown any interest in club football. Club football has always bored me to tears; i was only ever fascinated by nations pitted against nations. But it is a wonder what teh slash will do for one's interests shifting... I am 50 minutes train ride from London! I could, very conceivably, see Asterix and weepster and huggie-boy and groinstomp-boy and buttie-boys and divers galore, and shirt exchanges, and manpiles... *hyperventilates* Of course, *coughs*, it will all be done as a favour to my sons one of whom is a big Arsenal fan...

Orcs are timeless!
I love that line! Hm, where's my orc icon gone??

sadly, I left a series of Harry Potter stories unfinished. To be fair, this was mainly because I got mugged by Canon when HBP came out .. but also there was just so much STUPIDITY within that humungous fandom, which exerted a kind of creeping fascination
I have a huge, 70 thousand word unfinished HP opus on hard drive and in long hand in exercise books. It is weighing down my soul! I think if I can just finish it and post it and get it out of my effing system.

The HP fandom is scary. I never really got into it. Mainly because I dislike its canon, and it is a very canon-fixated fandom. (Not to mention my cavalier / idiosyncratic approach to canon in general.) The fic quality is quite high (though there is so much of it that there are heaps of bad!fic) but sometimes that can be intimidating and debilitating; it fans the flames of BNF-dom, and I think BNF-dom is not conducive. What I like, so far, about this football malarkey, is its egalitarian fun-dom. *g* Huh, no doubt the angst will set in some time soon...

Ooh, Captain!

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I find myself momentarily distracted by your Captains Jack.

Oh, fandom's better than real life. I'm going to live in fandom from now on.

*is having bad day*

Re: Ooh, Captain!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Living in fandom makes it a good day. I decided to take the day off due to heat stress, so have done no writing, academic or otherwise, just been fixing up my website and commenting on posts. It's a full-time job, you know!

*needs a glass of water as is dehydrated from Africa!East Anglia*

Re: Ooh, Captain!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

distracted by your Captains Jack.

Oh, and may I just say: bonnets off for that wonderful plural. ;-)

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I sent it to yahoo. Hath it arrived?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Yes! I never check my email, you see, so had completely forgotten that you might send fic there... Good! I have it now! It will give me the semblance of actually doing something. I have taken the day off in view of the heat. I may do same tomorrow.

[junalele.livejournal.com]

*waiting for those pics to load*

I can sympathize with your SGA-situation? Did I see the finale of the very anxiously anticipated newest season of 'Without a Trace'? No, I totally didn't. First they collided with matches during the WC and then after... Erh, I was busy being obsessed with Cristianochen? *sighs*

*still waiting - groan*

But yes, ambivalence. It must be sort of nightmarish not to be able to leave your house without being hunted by paparazzi. Or even being hunted while you're still *in* your house. Can imagine why celebrities are a bit weird and -

Oh.My.God. *squee* The Hair! It's back. In the pics with Merche and his sister (?) it's all naturally curly and looking so soft and... *tries very hard to hold onto her politically correct attitude towards paparazzi...*

But seriously I get your point. I guess, as a cvelebrity yourself you more or less know what you're getting yourself into. Especially if you're doing all kinds of commercials and what-nots which will put you even more in the public eye. But your family...
And yes, Cristiano seems to see anything and he doesn't seem happy about it...

But The Hair... :/

[sonicbookmark.livejournal.com]

ACK!
*runs from the mad football lady*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*smites you with insane football/SGA crossover wot i am currently writing* (Note icon!)

Paparazzi lurkerdom

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

With the subject of the parps in mind; and in sincere admiration of your recent fic Nemesis, may I offer the following drabble by way of a coda:

Barscoop

Harry Figwit quit polishing glasses as the last two guests left the pool area - each pointedly going their separate ways.

He doffed his shades, paid the real barman a lavish amount of Agency cash, hefted his equipment and wandered out into a blazing sunset, taking some shots to prove that he still had the soul of a creative artiste.

Lucky he'd thought to flick the switch to 'video, and if the voice-recordings didn't come out clearly - well - most self-respecting sport agencies employed a resident lip-reader these days.

Confident that his fortune was made, Harry disappeared into the Madeira dusk

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

1111111

*falls down and offers up sacrifices to you*

Oh, this is brilliant! I love this! You have fanficced my fanfic and, as far as I'm concerned, this is now canon.

I can't wait for the tape to be leaked.

'Harry disappeared into the Madeira dusk': love that line! It's like a cowboy movie!!


H. Figwit: OC? Oh, and the soul of a creative 'artiste'... I LOVE HF!

'resident lip-reader': *sporfles wildly*

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

*curtsies* I'm glad you liked it. Harry Figwit thanks you also

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

In my head, Harry Figwit totally looks like Buffon.

Just thought you needed to know that.

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[silverhielm.livejournal.com]

ahahaahh this is great! I would sell my mother to have that video :D

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Sitting propped against the cliffs of Quinto and lighting a cigarillo by the last rays of the pink sun, Harry Figwit inserted the disc into his portable player and settled down to watch the day's work.

But was it the heat of the rock against his back, the intoxicating fumes of Cuban tobacco, or the clear-as-crystal quality of the recorded moans? Confusion entered Harry's thoughts; turmoil clouded his usually so sharp intellect. The fag fell from his fingers and burned a hole in his trousers but he barely noticed.

He came up for air, wiped the semen off his Calvin Kleins and rewound the recording.

He had believed himself to be immune against the traps of his trade yet here he was, his heart agasp and his neckline moist.

"For me," he told the sun dipping behind the sea's horizon. "I need you to do that for me."

And that is how it started: Harry Figwit's obsession.

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[o-chan.livejournal.com]

...........MORE PLEASE?! XD

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

Next day he was up early; and this time he'd bought his binoculars as well as all the equipment. He'd done some extensive asking-around in the sleazier bars in town; and now he knew exactly which yacht the England player was occupying.

Way he figured it - when Rooney moved - he'd move. No need to join that herd of common parp-photographers that was camped in the Ronaldo-mansion bushes!

Harry's eyeballs felt like edged crystals and his hands shook.He'd had a rough night - and this morning he'd had to hastily burn the whole thing onto dvd before the video fell apart. never mind - there was the possiblity of screencaps now .....

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

It was four a.m. By a series of ruses, Cristiano had managed to evade the gaggle of voyeurs lurking in the trees and bushes around his family's humble adobe cottage. He'd sent his brother Hugo out in one direction, dressed in his Nr 17 shirt, trailing several photographers in dark overcoats; then he'd kicked a ball into the magnolia trees 200 yards away, distracting a further knot of combat-camouflage-suit-wearing camera bandits; and then he'd hobbled out the alley way, dressed in his mum's frilly nightgown and pretending to be hunchbacked.

By the time he got to Wayne's yacht, it was 4:35 and the moon was making way for the summer sun.

Nothing moved in the marina. But halt! what was that?

A shadow flitted from anchor post to anchor post.

Panicked, Cristiano slid down some nearby steps and submerged himself in the water. The night gown billowed out around him so he pulled it off and stuffed it between the rafters of the pier.

He squinted into the coming dawn. Who could that shadow be?

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

Harry was usually niftier than this; but he wasn't in his first blush any more, and the night was taking its toll.

WHY did people design anchor posts this THIN? There was barely any cover here, and each time Harry tucked his stringy body behind a post, the bulge at his groin protruded shyly, casting a long morning shadow in the reddening light.

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

(PS - if this is going further, should we relocate it?)

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

PPS:loved the frilly nightie.

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Yes! Where to? *g*

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[grondfic.livejournal.com]

Maybe it should have its own thread? Own LJ????

Re: Paparazzi lurkerdom

[junalele.livejournal.com]

*cackles in sincere admiration*