Category Archives: Fangirl Thursdays

Fangirl Thursday: Summer Love

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I love the fall for many reasons—the return of football and hockey, the abundance of pumpkin-flavored treats, and new seasons of my favorite TV shows. Fall is when a sense of routine returns to my life, and the creature of habit in me loves that.

But there’s something to be said for summer and its lazy hours in air-conditioned houses, filled with time to explore the media we simply don’t have time to consume during the rest of the year. Summer is the perfect time to fall in love with a new book (or series of books) or binge-watch that TV show you keep saying you’ll “get around to eventually.”

In this strange space between summer and fall, I find myself hopelessly in love with both a television series and a book series, and I have to talk about them or else I might explode from too many unexpressed fangirl feelings.

I had a list of television shows I wanted to start this summer, but only one ended up making the cut: Masters of Sex. Thanks to Heather’s effusive praise of this show and its incredible leading lady (the fabulous Lizzy Caplan) over the past year, I bought the first season on DVD last week to tide me over until the rest of my dramas return at the end of this month. I’m not so sure I’ll be able to make it last until the end of the month, as I’ve made it to the halfway point of the first season after only two nights spent watching it. I can’t stop, and I don’t want to.

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Fangirl Thursday: Returning Favorites

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It’s September, and you know what that means: pumpkin-spiced everything, football, and TV season premieres! And while I love a good pumpkin spice latte and my Buffalo Bills, my favorite thing about this month is all of the new TV that comes our way.

Sometime next week, I plan on breaking down my fall viewing schedule and discussing what shows we’re all watching this year. (Until then, I highly recommend taking a closer look at what new shows you might check out with Heather’s helpful guide.) Today, however, I want to focus on the premieres we’ve been counting down to since May, the beginnings of brand new seasons for our favorite TV shows.

There’s always that one season premiere you’re looking forward to slightly (or not-so-slightly) more than any other. Whether it’s because the season finale set some great things in motion, the show’s been surrounded by cool casting buzz, or your appetite has been whetted by exciting spoilers, we all have to admit that there’s one show whose premiere we wrote in slightly bigger letters on our September calendars.

For me, it’s The Mindy Project.

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Fangirl Thursday: Who Encourages Your Nerdy Side?

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It’s not always easy being a nerd. There’s always going to be someone telling you that you care too much about “just” things: “just a TV show,” “just a book,” just a band,” “just a sports team,” etc. There are always going to be people who judge you for your emotional investment in fictional worlds and characters. And there are always going to be people who think that there are better, more productive ways to spend your time than reading, watching TV, or writing about things that make you think and feel.

That’s exactly why we as nerds need support systems—people who encourage our nerdy sides, foster our passions, and help us find even more things to become invested in.

I have a wonderfully large nerdy support system—from all of you lovely readers and commenters here at NGN and my friends who will talk for hours with me about books and TV shows to my cousins who are just as nerdy as I am, my father who’s taught me so much about sports fandom, and my sister who’s my favorite TV-watching partner. However, there’s one person who is at the heart of that support system—one person who first opened my eyes to what would become one my life’s biggest passions and has encouraged that passion ever since—and it happens to be her birthday today.

That person is my mom. When I was a bored preteen looking for things to read, my mom led me to To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby, and my life was never the same. In introducing me to those two books, my mom introduced me to my future—analyzing the pieces of media that make me think and feel the most deeply. As a reader herself, my mom knew the value of books and just how much of an impact they can leave on you, and I’m so thankful she passed that appreciation for the value of great literature on to me.

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Fangirl Thursday: For Your Consideration (2014 Emmys)

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diane lockhart

With the 2014 Emmys right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about who we think will take home the night’s big awards (which will be the topic of a post over here this weekend), as well as who we think should be given an Emmy this year. Although I found myself fairly disappointed with this year’s group of nominees (surprise, surprise), there are still some names on the list that I will be crossing my fingers for on Monday night. Some of those names don’t have much of a shot at winning, but I love a good dark horse.

When Monday rolls around, I’ll be waiting with bated breath to see if Amy Poehler, Andre Braugher, and Julianna Margulies are rewarded for their stellar performances this season. The buzz around Braugher and Margulies is strong, so I’m hopeful about their chances. And for as much as I love Poehler, I don’t think this was Parks and Recreation’s strongest season. Therefore, I think she might have to wait for a “body of work” Emmy next season. All three of these actors have been deservedly showered with praise far more eloquent than anything I can ever say about them, so I want to turn my attention to the final nominee I’m wholeheartedly championing this year—a woman whose subtly affecting work is often overlooked in favor of others in her category and even on her show: Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart on The Good Wife.

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Fangirl Thursday: Playlists Full of Feelings

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I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of playlists on my iPod: “Workout Mix,” “Road Trip 2013,” “Yoga Time,” “Alias Songs,” “Extraordinary,” “Perhaps I Would,” “I Will Always Find You”…

Why yes, I do have multiple playlists devoted to songs that remind of my favorite fictional characters and couples. Doesn’t everyone?

Music makes us feel, so it’s always made sense to me that the right song would make me think about the characters and relationships that make me feel, too. It’s what we do as fans; we take the things we’re passionate about and make deeper connections with them than the ones we’re given during the small amount of time we spend in the movie theater, reading, or watching TV.

It all began—as so many things in my life as a fangirl did—with Alias. Season Three of Alias was a time of immense angst, so naturally, ever sad song reminded me of the time Vaughn spent thinking Sydney was dead or the time Sydney spent watching Vaughn be married to someone else. From the entire More Than You Think You Are Matchbox 20 album to Coldplay’s “The Scientist” and Garth Brooks’s “The Dance,” I spent my entire sophomore year of high school listening to angst-ridden songs—not because I was an angry teenager but because I was a fangirl.

More than 10 years later, I’m still the kind of fangirl who hears a song and immediately finds a character it relates to. And when I do, I add it to the playlist. Some of my playlists (like “Extraordinary,” aka my Castle/Beckett mix) also have songs used on the TV shows or in the movies themselves, but I love discovering new songs that unexpectedly give me all the feelings.

Today I want to share my top five songs from my three most-played fangirl playlists, ones devoted to Castle and Beckett (from Castle), as well as Snow and Charming and Emma and Hook (both from Once Upon a Time).

Extraordinary: My Castle/Beckett Playlist
1. “Shake It Out” (Florence and the Machine)
And I am done with my graceless heart, so tonight I’m gonna cut it out and then restart…
This song will always be Kate Beckett’s anthem to me. I discovered it right around the time “Kill Shot” aired back in Season Four, and its empowering theme of moving beyond the demons we carry with us seemed to be a perfect emotional companion for everything Beckett was going through in that episode.

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Fangirl Thursday: TV Comfort Food

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Sometimes life just sucks. Even though I try to be as positive as I can be as a writer and as a person, there’s no denying that some days are just bad days. Whether you had a bad day at work or are sick with a cold or feeling sad for no real reason, there are days when you just need comfort—comfy clothes, comfort food, and comfort TV.

We all have those episodes of certain TV shows that we watch when we need a little dose of instant happiness. They’re the episodes that act like a warm mug of tea and a soft blanket on life’s rainiest days. A good comfort TV episode makes you smile, laugh, and maybe even cry when you really need to.

When I’m having one of those days where I feel like nothing will cheer me up, I reach for my Parks and Recreation DVDs. I’ve spent many hours curled up on my couch, starting impromptu marathons of this show to get through sick days and sad days. But sometimes you just don’t have time for a marathon. Sometimes you have to choose just one episode that you know will do the trick—one episode that warms your soul and lifts your spirits. And, for me, that episode is “Leslie and Ben.”

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Fangirl Thursday: Favorite Fan Experiences

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Today at NGN, I’m kicking off what I hope will turn into a fun weekly feature: Fangirl Thursdays! This was inspired by some of my lovely commenters/Twitter followers (you know who you are), who always seem to find Thursdays a particularly good day for being enthusiastic about our fandoms (especially when Thursdays meant Once Upon a Time sneak peeks). It was also inspired by how much fun I’ve been having discussing the happiest of fandom topics over at TVexamined during Heather’s “Month of Love.”

Every Thursday, I want to celebrate the enthusiasm that comes with being a fangirl (or fanboy—don’t think you’re excluded from the fun, guys). I’ll start with a story about something that gets me excited about fandom—whether it’s about TV, movies, books, or the general experiences that come with being a passionate fan. But what I really want these posts to be is a place for you to share your stories. We have some great discussions here at NGN, so let’s carve out some time every Thursday to have even more of them!

That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.

Those words from F. Scott Fitzgerald speak to the essence of being a fan. Being a part of a fandom is like finding a little place in the world where you feel accepted; it’s like finding a community of people who understand you on a fundamental level because they understand what it’s like to love something that you also love. No matter the fandom—whether it’s for a book series, TV show, video game, or sports team—what makes these communities so special is the sense of belonging they instill in their members. When you’re around fellow fans, you don’t feel judged for caring the way you do about the things that you love; you feel welcomed and encouraged to be as passionate as you want to be.

When members of a fandom come together, it’s a truly special thing. There’s a sense of unity and enthusiasm that can’t be matched. I’ve had the pleasure of participating in more shared fandom experiences than I can count—from midnight releases for movies to playoff sports games—and they all share one common trait: excitement.

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