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

Neil Gaiman has namechecked Jilli, so you're in good company there.

Those negative reactions and claims that you're bragging don't surprise me, for all that they also make me roll my eyes, because it feels like exactly the sort of reaction a certain subsection of fandom would have.

I doubt the response would be the same if, say, your friend Tim worked on According to Jim.

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.

I find that nuts. Shit, I've spent the bulk of my life hipdeep in famous people. So what? My father was a musician, my sister was a music journalist, I got taken places and was around. Shit happens. If you happened to be Drew Barrymore, would people snipe at you for "namedropping"? All that says to me is, those particular posters are impressed and resentful about being impressed.

Fuck 'em. You know who you know. You care about who, and what, you care about.

But four thousand words, easy. Ought to be a superb essay.

I'm with Deb. Admittedly, it's sometimes awkward to travel in interesting circles, because people don't always perceive the people you're talking about as "real" people, they perceive them as something ephemeral, as though they existed solely within the thing for which they've atttained some degree of fame.

Now, I've known you (cyberspacely speaking) for a good long while now, so when I see you talking about Tim, I mostly read a certain degree of friendliness, a certain degree of fannish enthusiasm, and a certain degree of promotion -- they're all tied together: you met Tim and became friends with Tim through fandom, through an enthusiasm for his work, and because you care, you are inclined to promote. This isn't "starfucking" or any such nonsense.

Now, does someone who doesn't know you get that? Eh, I'm inclined to doubt, for just the reasons I stated above: For a majority of fans, these people only exist within the bubble of what they're known for, as though Tim or Joss or Fury only wrote and directed during their day, and didn't do things like get together with friends for cards, or do laundry or the like. From that fannish angle, they're not real people, but an extension of their work (although the other way around is more true.)

Thus, a reminder that they're human, that they're friends of normal people and eat at normal restaurants and the like, is greeted with suspicion, because it runs counter to the image in their heads.

I'm jealous about you having Thanksgiving with ita -- you braggart!

ita is a bigger star to my mom.(my mom seldom has to *give* asskicking props) Jilli too.(She is a total perkygoth fangirl... I told you about her wondering about batty bathing suits, right? ) She doesn't understand my obsession with TV writers(which admittedly is excessive...I think I talked to LisaH for two days about seeing David Simon on the street once. But he *so* needs to call me.) So when I told Mom that I got e-mail from Tim Minear...she was kind of like "Cool...internet chat, whatever." until I said "Well, Allyson knows him." She might be more excited since we finished "Wonderfalls" which we both loved, if I said "it's his show."

All that says to me is, those particular posters are impressed and resentful about being impressed.

Yes, this. I have been told to my face that it's "so cute the way you can make my life sound cooler than it probably is". I told that person that I was very sorry for them that their life wasn't as interesting to them as mine was to me.

Try not to let those comments get under your skin & drive you crazy. Those people don't have the context for what goes on, and they never will.

Those people don't have the context for what goes on, and they never will.

Yep. Yep. More yep. Jilli is exactly right.

See, I think it's neat that you know Tim. In the way I think it's neat that Deb has known so many famous people --since I have absolutely no access to any famous, semi-famous, whatev, people at all.

So it's...nifty. Interesting.

Do I think either of your are COOLER because of it? Nope. Do I think Allyson is a namedropper? Nope. It's an interesting FACET of you, but it doesn't make you you, or define you, or anything. It's just a fabo little part.

But all people are not as cooly logical as I am.

(BTW, y'all can drop MY name anytime. Like, "OMG, I know ERIN!!" "You DO?! You are so GENIIUS! Can I fawn on you and stuff from your association with ERIN?!" )

This post brought to you by ERIN. And DayQuil.

Erin, I'd be honoured to drop your name. You're certainly fabulous enough to warrant it, damn it.