The event we were at was called Click Critics: The Power of Fan Websites. The panel consisted of Erica Blitz of Galactica Sitrep, Kevin Croy of Lostpedia, Dan Manu of Television Without Pity, Remona Outar of Ugly is In, Damon Schmidt of Whedonesque, and Jennie Tan of OfficeTally. The moderator was Alan Sepinwall of What’s Alan Watching? and the Star-Ledger.
The Paley Center itself is trying kind of hard to figure out what this whole blogging thing is, and doesn’t quite get it, as evidenced by the fact that no urls appeared in the program for the event. But the panelists were great (and so was the moderator). They were diverse, charming, funny, and thoughtful. No one was taking him/herself all that seriously. I loved noticing how much the stereotype of the fangeek has changed; that bloggers aren’t all male (hello!), or white, or (at all) unattractive, or young.
It was enormous fun meeting other bloggers with the kind of crazy commitment that Roberta and I have, and Erica confessed she’s a fan of our site (I’m not a Galactica person, but of course I read Whedonesque every day). I am so looking forward to keeping in touch with these people, and Damon’s wife, Kara, told us a story that will be appearing on this blog soon.
Basket of Kisses 
May 20, 2008 at 9:11 am
Deb, thanks for getting this up. No doubt, speaking afterwards with Damon and Kara (Cara?) and Erica and that guy Luke (not sure what his connection was; I think he’s a Whedonesque guy but he was totally handsome and charming so I hardly cared) was waaay the best part of the evening.
Alan and Dan were my other favorites.
Most of the audience was us! TV/media bloggers looking for inside tips.
Oh! And don’t forget the musical stylings of Previously on Lost! I can’t link to them because they are on myspace and I am firewalled, but I think this links to them:
http://stereogum.com/b-sides/previously-on-lost-the-band-008027.html
May 20, 2008 at 10:23 am
Hello, hello! It was a delight to meet you both and it was definitely a great time. Luke is actually Whedonesque’s very own SoddingNancyTribe (a moderator himself) and it is Kara with ‘K’ 🙂 I love Mad Men (not least of which because of the Kertheiser/Hendricks crossover), but hadn’t been out in search of sites devoted to it before so I am positively delighted to find that you are out here giving props to such a worthy show.
I do love the fact that the panel showed some of the enormous diversity of those of us involved in exploring/dissecting this modern mythology. I wish there had been more time to really delve into the elements that link all of these wonderful shows. Its not just the narrative, its the tangents to our own lives represented so wonderfully by these compelling characters. Even with shows that have a somewhat fantastic setting or take place in another time period, there is a deeper human element that we can all relate to and appreciate. Its so often the discussions tangent to the actual plot that I find most interesting.
Keep up the great work 🙂
May 20, 2008 at 10:23 am
Oh dear, I typo’d Vincents name, I’m in trouble now!
May 20, 2008 at 10:26 am
Hater.
May 20, 2008 at 10:36 am
I also think the key element of creating fan sites is that there’s SOMETHING to discuss. With science fiction there’s all the world-building, techno-stuff, which is how the geek stereotype started. You know, how do transporters work, what do the insignia mean, what’s life like in the Federation for a civilian, that sort of thing.
Whedonverse has that sort of “classic” fan discussion; what’s a soul anyway, what happens to vamps that don’t drink blood, why is Dracula different, why does Sunnydale expand to We Have a Campus And An Airport And a Zoo size and then contract to And We Can Walk Anywhere From Buffy’s House size?
But “things to discuss” can mean character development, subtext, use of language, and other non-science fiction stuff, and we certainly saw that with the Office and Ugly Betty fans, and with us here at BoK.
May 20, 2008 at 10:49 am
Though we at BoK do have our what-the-hell-train-line-is-that and wasn’t-the-Drapers’-front-door-red chats.
Just not so many.
I thought we cleared that Dracula thing up back in 2000.
May 20, 2008 at 10:51 am
Don’t worry, as Dracula is appaearing in the Buffy Season Eight comics, there is mroe to discuss re: the Dark Lord… bator. I could swear the Draper’s door was red, but maybe that was before AMC kicked my dog.
May 20, 2008 at 11:01 am
It’s red from the outside. Not so much when it opens into the house… bator.
May 20, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Roberta’s not exactly reading the Season 8 comics, but I am. However, After the Fall is verging on the edge of not worth the money.
May 20, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Lovely to meet you girls last night, and happy to visit your site… you just might make a Mad Men convert of me yet! What you describe above as other “things to discuss” — that’s exactly what I’m at Whedonesque for, and from the sound of it, what you’re into hear on your site.
I don’t care about TVGuide polls, or fan fiction or DVDs with new extras. I’m there for the really interesting conversations that use the works of Whedon as a jumping off point for powerful discussion. Stuff like this: http://whedonesque.com/comments/6735 and
http://whedonesque.com/comments/6651
Anywho, cheers to you for your cool site and again… delightful to meet you at the Paley. Will send you more info on the other story we discussed, under separate cover. 🙂
May 20, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Since you brought up the red door…
It looks like the Draper’s have an ante room. The red door opens to that, then you walk through the white paneled door with windows to get into the house proper.
Just making sure my geek credentials are still valid…
May 20, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Hi. You might not remember me but we met briefly last night. I have a blog about pop culture and technology and write a lot about tv but don’t have a fan blog. Although after last night, I’m really thinking of starting one eventually. It sounded so great. I’m sorry I never read yours but “Mad Men” is one of the few critically acclaimed shows that I never watched. I’m not sure why, Maybe I’ll catch up on it eventually. I blogged about last night also, if you want to see my post at http://connectwithyourteens.blogspot.com/2008/05/fan-websites-at-paley-center.html
May 20, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Hullaballoo,
I noticed what you said about the doors when re-watching The Wheel a few days ago.
When I saw the front door mentioned above, I was going to say the same thing you did! 🙂
May 20, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Hi, Jennifer, I was trying to get your card! Thanks for posting.
May 20, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Hi Jennifer… totally remember you.
You will love this show. July 1st the first season comes out on DVD. Don’t read us until you’ve seen it.
May 21, 2008 at 9:11 am
I’m definitely going to get the DVD. I’ve caught up on great shows from much further behind. Thanks
May 22, 2008 at 12:16 am
Hi Roberta and Deborah! Tis I, the other “Whedonesque guy”. Just checking in to establish that I was no mirage, that I am indeed “SoddingNancyTribe” (snarf snarf) on the big W, and that I too enjoyed beaucoup de laughs on Monday night. You gals were and are terrific, and your site rawks. I’ll be checking in – but first I should probably check out MM, huh? Gee thanks – yet another must-see, but this one is backed up by the persuasive power of you two. I’ll get to it pronto. Ta-ra!
May 22, 2008 at 6:08 am
I knew you weren’t a mirage! I kept saying to Deb… no WAY was that guy a mirage! And I was right!
(what?)
MM… if you can’t wait until July 1st, it’s on iTunes.
May 22, 2008 at 8:33 pm
*late…really late…to this party*
Guys it was so great meeting you two after the panel…glad you were there to represent for one of my other new favorite shows (all BSG and Whedon aside). Logan and I have figured out a million little ways to mention MAD MEN on a BSG blog.
Martinis for all!
May 22, 2008 at 8:36 pm
How much do we love you?!!!!!!
(ahem.)
Glad to have you on board, ProgGrrl.
May 23, 2008 at 11:21 am
*hands Roberta a dirty martini*
It’s Friday. Whadya say we all scram as soon as the boss goes to “lunch”? *g*
May 23, 2008 at 11:42 am
Too. much. patron. last night.
early start.
But okay!
May 23, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Bert, holy cow, Patron?
ProgGrrl, I like my martinis not dirty. A true James Bond martini is a vodka martini medium dry with a twist of lime. I like a vodka martini medium dry with a wedge of lemon. I know the wedge is weird by I like the extra juiciness.
But I don’t like olives.
Umm, but as long as we’re all 3 drinking together, I’m happy.
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