Post: When Fandom Worlds Collide

[labyrinth2015]

In the words of Neil Young, off "Fork in the Road", "Truth is fiction, truth is lies, strange things happen when worlds collide..."

Weird things happen when you're cycling through fandoms at hyperspeed so you can get back to actual work! You know how fandom seems multitudinous and labyrinthian at first blush? Then you run across familiar people -- leici commenting on an old U2 story, otherbella popping up in Hunger Games fandom, discovering that twistedchick, the lady for whom I was writing a Yuletide treat, was a friend of my beta for that self-same story, cinco -- and suddenly there are intricate connections across fandoms where you least expect them :)

And of course, out of those different fandoms comes the crossover fic ideas :)

To wit: in Inception fandom, I've been stalled on the Anthemic-as-Inception-team idea for ages (c'mon, who doesn't wanna see DCook as scene-chewing Extractor DCobb?), and Part II of Tommy Solomon-and-crew-incept-Archie elevator!fic is still at the planning stage :(

Over at The Hunger Games, it's easy to picture Cook and Archie as Finnick Odair and his beloved Annie, or to imagine the Quarter Quell kids getting their golden tickets to Captiol Hollywood, and singing for their lives on the Idol stage -- where they meet Haymitch as Simon Cowell and Snow as evil 19E Network producer Simon Fuller (and Caesar Flickerman as their host, Ryan Seacrest!); Peeta and Katniss sing Marly's "The Letter"/Kradam's We are the Champions and Finnick sings DCook's "Sharp Dressed Man" - and in a nailbiting photo-finish, the number of votes cast for the top two are exactly the same and there are two American Idols crowned! I kinda want to write that :)

Where worlds collide there are duets, too, of course. evilgeniuslady reminded me of the epic 80s Springsteen/Sting duet on "The River", and how epic it was. Magnificent, and magnificently slashy, these classic rockers in their glorious youth singing each other's words and getting up close and personal in each other's space:

Then Bruce repaid Sting's nuanced, brilliant take on "The River" by shouldering Sting's arm and the famous stalkerific vibe of the Police's "Every Breath You Take", all the while looking like he'd like to lock lips with and draw breath from the mighty Summoner :)

My new/revived fandom crush, U2, has also dueted awesomely with both Springsteen as well as Sting, and in my brain they make a worlds-colliding OT3/OT6 of awesome. Here they are in Philadelphia with Bruce, taking on "People Get Ready":

And the virtuoso "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", from their 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame outing: "I'm looking for the Boss!" said Bono, gesturing meaningfully, and Bruce indeed stepped up to the mic and in close to the other B., but not before he dallied and traded guitar licks with the obviously smitten Edge:

Check how the Edge grins helplessly and has to hold himself back from fanboying Bruce :) U2 adore the Boss so much they sang Springsteen's "She’s the One" on his 60th birthday, during the 2009 leg of their 360 Degrees Tour – changing it up to "He's the one," of course :) LOVE.

U2 has somewhat less of a connection with Sir Gordon, but Bono did have a celebrated outing with the Police during the "Invisible Sun" in the 1986 Amnesty International concert:

Sting's return engagement was on "One", though I haven't managed to find vid of it - maybe some handy person on my f-list can help :) Vocals awesome, though!

ETA: There is Sting/Bono slashiness on 1984's "Do They Know It's Christmas", where they share a vocal line - 'And the Christmas bells that ring there, are the clanging chimes of doom' - WITH ADDED DURAN DURAN/SLB COLLIDING HOTNESS, WHICH IS ALWAYS WELCOME XD

Things do get a little sketchy, though, where RL collides with fandom. I have no problems with the idea of celeb RPF - actors and musicians and entertainment and sports personalities are public figures, and as such they sign on to a certain amout of stanning and fair play in re: those public images. Reclusive Harvard figures and businessmen may however not be quite the same kettle of fish, and although I've followed The Social Network fandom and the Mark/Eduardo fic with interest, I have always felt there's a difference.



Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg as Savarin and Zuckenberg in The Social Network, image owned by Columbia Pictures

Anyways, I found out at dinner Saturday night that Hub's (lithe, hot, 21-y.o.) second cousin who works at Large International Bank, apparently parties with Savarin at, inter alia, an Island hotspot of some note. It seems the guy is lying low here on the Island post-movie and is cutting a bit of a swathe through the local scene?

I must say my first fannish instinct was to consider asking Hot Young Cousin for an introduction (which I would only use For Good, of course~!), but my better sense prevailed. Dude didn't ask to be stanned, let alone bombarded by questions about his deep, dark feelings about the ex-best friend who, from some accounts, screwed him over, and whom fandom would impute desires of another similar and even baser nature?

Also: I suspect when RL and fandom intersect, fanfic will always give the more satisfying answer :)



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Comments

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Well, it is kind of cute, even though the CGI dragon annoys me to death :)

XD