Were they serious?

Because I was soooo tempted to make some very facetious answers -- but refrained.

Me, too sumi.

It seems to me that you 'name drop' him and Fury as often as possible. This seems to be an attempt to increase your own 'rank' in fandoms. And I can't imagine a 'close friend' behaving that way. So just from an outside point of view, since I've never met you in real life, my knee-jerk assumption would be this: You know Tim Minear. Tim Minear knows you. You are probably not actually close friends if you use his fame/name as you do, or at least not to *my* standard of what a close friend(and certainly not family) would be. And everyone has their own standards, but again, I'm going off of my own.

Another:

All said and done, eternally reminding people you have famous friends is bragging. And I just find it hard to be overly fond of people who brag on such a continuous level.

Third one:

I think you rarely miss an opportunity to remind people that you know Tim, and if nothing else, you think this gives you a higher status in the fandom. Granted, access is power, but power tends to go to people's heads. People have fawned on you for your connections, and I don't think you mind. It gets old. Perceived specialness and actual specialness aren't equal.

I can get another 4k words out of this, alone. I think, aside from the initial feeling of "ouch," that it's an interesting perception.

It is an interesting perception.

Is it "bragging" if one was constantly talking about thier spouse or children to someone not married and/or childless?

Annoying, yes. But bragging? I wonder.

If I talk about spending Thanksgiving with ita in Catalina, it's conversation. If I talk about having dinner with Tim, it's bragging.

I find that fascinating.

Huh. I think they're jealous. You only really talk about Tim--in his thread--that I've noticed. You speak for him, occassionally, but if he didn't want you to he would be the first to say so and in no uncertain terms. That speaks for a pretty close friendship, in my mind. You're not his PR person, so there's no benefit in doing so. We know this because he still hasn't bought you a pony. Sour grapes is what I see.

I also wonder, when does it stop being bragging about Tim and just start being like dinner with ita? Or does it, even? ita talks about Colin a lot, sometimes, and sometimes promotes his career, but I don't think anyone thinks of that as bragging. She's his friend. And I've been around them to know that yes, he thinks of her exactly as she thinks of him. Is it that you and Tim became friends after he wrote all those wonderful Buffy episodes that makes the distinction?

I mean, when Kristen becomes an Oscar winning screenplay writer, and you have dinner with her and you talk about it, would it be considered bragging or is that negated by the fact that you "knew her when"?

It's something that I'm loosely outlining, now, Aimee.

I think what makes the distinction is this: If, say, Colin were suddenly the new hottie lawyer at Wolfram and Hart, and ita posted about hanging out with Colin in a place where people had no context for their relationship, it would be seen by some as bragging.

I only post here and at Whedonesque, so claims that I'm all over the internet talking up that I know Tim Minear is a weird perception. I also seldom discuss Tim outside the context of his career, which is what he publicly discusses. Well, that and beagles.

No one here is aware of the last time I saw Tim, or what we talked about last.

No one here is aware of the last time I saw Kristen, or what we talked about last.

It's not really anyone's business, nor would those conversations be interesting to anyone else, they'd be contextless.

At work, I'll say, "Oh, my friend Tim said that same thing yesterday..." and that's meaningless, because I'm talking to people who know nothing of Tim.

However, once a guy recommended one of Hec's books, and I excitedly said, "OMG, I know David! He's wonderful! I'm totally telling him that you liked his book."

And that sounded to my coworker like name-dropping, and that I was overstating my relationship to Hec.

I definately think I can shape another 4K words out of that. I've namechecked Jilli, I've namechecked erinaceous, and have been fully aware of it, with a wink and a grin.

I think I've got some writing to do. My agent will be so stoked that her notes have sent me off on a good path. I was lost earlier about how I'd work those notes into this piece, but now I'm sure that it's just an additional piece, and I now have the base for the BNF essay that has escaped me.

I also wonder how the living in LA part of it comes through, if it does at all.