I Met You On LJ

Podcast
Title:	I Met You On LJ, I MET YOU ON LJ: A FANDOM PODCAST, sometimes stylized as i met you on lj
Created by:	Maggie (glycerineclown), V. Arrow
Date(s):	Sept 1, 2020 - March 2022
Focus:
Fandom:	Multifandom, Media Fandom
External Links:	imetyouonljpodcast.com
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I Met You On LJ is a fannish podcast by Maggie (glycerineclown) and V. Arrow. Described by its hosts as:

"Longtime friends Maggie and V met twelve years ago through a mutual fandom -- and they haven't agreed on much since, except for their love of loving things, writing fanfiction, and each other. Join them as they chat about their passions (and gentle ribbing of the other's passions) and discuss the ins and outs of fandom's past, present, and future, from LiveJournal to Tumblr, AO3, and beyond."

Most episodes are available for free on a wide variety of streaming platforms; however, there are already several patreon exclusive episodes, including a dramatic reading of My Immortal.

Episode List

Episode links below may be offline: check the episode listings on the Tumblr: https://www.imetyouonljpodcast.com/tagged/episode/

• Sept 1, 2020: 001. She Stuck Her Finger In His Mouth (Robsten, Robert Pattinson/Kristen Stewart)
• Sept 8, 2020: 002. Origin Stories (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dream Street)
• Sept 15, 2020: 003. Tinhatting Ruins Everything (Glee/Klaine, One Direction/Larry Stylinson)
• Sept 22, 2020: 004. Forgot How Sandwiches Work (HBO Looking, The Hunger Games)
• Sept 29, 2020: 005. Everyone Loves a Tortured Hot Guy (Teen Wolf/Sterek, Union J, Stereo Kicks)
• Oct 6, 2020: 006. So Many Feelings All The Time (Star Wars, The Punisher)
• Oct 13, 2020: 007. We Need To Talk About J.K Rowling: An Interview with Heidi Tandy AKA Heidi8 (Interview with Heidi8)
• Oct 20, 2020: 008. The Ship of Dreams (Titanic)
• Oct 27, 2020: 009. So Scared of Everything (Halloween)
• Nov 3, 2020: 010. The Smut Episode (Smut fanfiction)
• Nov 10, 2020: 011. Villainf*ckery: A Collab with Fine Pairings Podcast (Kylo Ren, Severus Snape, Loki)
• Nov 17, 2020: 012. Since You've Been Gone (River Phoenix, Chris Trousdale of Dream Street, Chadwick Boseman)
• Nov 24, 2020: 013. Fake Twins (The Social Network, The Parent Trap)
• Dec 1, 2020: 014. It's Like Watching A Fanfiction (The Old Guard, Venom, Pacific Rim, Jupiter Ascending)
• Dec 8, 2020: 015. Fanfiction Class with Dr. Anne Jamison (Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World editor Anne Jamison interview)
• Dec 15, 2020: 016. I'm With the Band (Greg Raposo/Dream Street, Bob Forrest/The Bicycle Thief)
• Dec 22, 2020: 017. Magic Max (Magic Mike: Magic Mike XXL, Mad Max: Mad Max: Fury Road)
• Dec 29, 2020: 018. A Lack of Decorum (Nancy Drew, The Bletchley Circle, Veronica Mars, Jessica Jones)
• Jan 5, 2021: 019. When the World Changes with Sherell Williams (The Walking Dead, Disney Channel Original Movie Z•O•M•B•I•E•S, with guest phrasesandmeter)
• Jan 12, 2021: 020. Tech A$$hole$ & Supernova Girls (Ex Machina, Disney ChannelOriginal Movie Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century)
• Jan 19, 2021: 021. Better Together (A Discussion About Writing Fanfiction)
• Jan 26, 2021: 022. The Mole Angels Go to Olive Garden! (The OA, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
• Feb 2, 2021: 023. Fairytales & Fanfiction with Of Slippers & Spindles (Fairytales, Folktales, and Fanfiction with Of Slippers & Spindles Podcast)
• Feb 9, 2021: 024. The Winona & Keanu Valentine's Day Special (Winona Ryder/Keanu Reeves)
• Feb 16, 2021: 025. Extracurricular Activities (Bring It On, Pitch Perfect, Bend It Like Beckham, Stick It!)
• Feb 23, 2021: 026. The Skeptic & The Believer (The X Files, Buzzfeed Unsolved)
• Mar 2, 2021: 027. Red Herrings with Sh*t Larries Say (Conspiracy Theories in Fandom {Larries/Larry Stylinson, Charmies/Armie Hammer/Timothée Chalamet} & Tinhatting, with guest yessoupy from Shit Larries Say)
• Mar 9, 2021: 028. Golden Retrieverness (Himbos: The Good Place, George of the Jungle, Boy Meets World, Friends, Lizzie McGuire, Bon Appetit Test Kitchen, Keanu Reeves)
• Mar 9, 2021: BONUS! WandaVision (MCU WandaVision)
• Mar 10, 2021: PATREON BONUS! Dear Maggie... March 2021 (Listener Q&A)
• Mar 16, 2021: 029. The Canon That Never Stops (RPF)
• Mar 30, 2021: 030. Love Before Good Lube (Enemies to Lovers: The Eagle, Vikings, The Old Guard)
• Apr 6, 2021: 031. Going to the Matrix with It's All Fandom (The Matrix, with guest Allison Stock from It's All Fandom)
• Apr 13, 2021: 032. 'Til the End of the Line (Stucky, Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers)
• Apr 20, 2021: 033. Fandom Racism (Fandom Racism)
• Apr 27, 2021: 034. Hair is Everything! (Lizzie McGuire, Fleabag)
• Apr 27, 2021: BONUS! The Falcon & the Winter Soldier (MCU The Falcon and the Winter Soldier)
• May 4, 2021: 035. Symbiotic Relationships with Christina Lauren (Interview with Christina Lauren)
• May 4, 2021: BONUS! Shadow & Bone (Netflix's Shadow & Bone)
• May 11, 2021: 036. 69 Tropes, Part I (Fanfic tropes)
• May 18, 2021: 037. The Time of My Life (Sequels, Prequels, Reboots, Dirty Dancing)
• May 25, 2021: 038. Fandom Infrastructure (GeoCities, LiveJournal, AO3, Tumblr, Discord)
• June 1, 2021: 039. A Strawberry-and-Chicken Sandwich with Seanan McGuire (Interview with Seanan McGuire)
• Episode #040: An Unbelievable Series of Words: three epic tales of power, deceit, and downfall in fandom–Msscribe, Rose Christo, and hivliving.
• Episode #041: Sticky Fingered: Ladies of crime, from Good Girls who are terrible at money laundering to the fabulous women of Ocean’s Eight, Mare of Easttown,Carmen Sandiego.
• Episode #042: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know - Writing, or not writing, characters of color; conversations around diversity in media and publishing; and the myriad reasons why fandom writes two white guys all the time.
• Episode #43: Writing Sexy Safe Sex with Ella Dawson. Cheers to enthusiastic consent! This week, Maggie and V interview sex and culture critic Ella Dawson (@brosandprose​) about erotica, bad boys, and STIs.
• Episode #044: Platonic F•R•I•E•N•D•S. And they were actually just roommates! Platonic relationships, the ways they are and aren’t represented in fandom, and how they’re represented in the 90s TV sitcom sensation, Friends.
• Episode #045: Speaking of Spooky Things. BBC’s Ghosts, the movie Ghost (1990), and Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House.
• Episode #046: 69 (Nice) Tropes, Part II. Filter your AO3 search. Fanfiction tropes and how they work for different types of canons. From bed sharing to dead dove do not eat, the world of fanfiction really runs the gamut.
• Episode #047: Fandom & Disability with Josh Galassi. Queerty writer and former Grey’s Anatomy superfan Josh Galassi to discuss disability and fandom, whether it’s the positive way that fandom fosters open community or the negative effects of Hollywood’s ableism.
• Episode #048: Everyone’s A Fan of Someone, Parasocial relationships and their impact on fandom. From the Aubrey Plaza/Elizabeth Olsen stalker film Ingrid Goes West to the differing cultures of LiveJournal, Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter
• Episode #049: Tournament of the Fake Dads. Great father figures and surrogate-dad characters.
• Episode #050: Aren’t You a Little Sick of Twilight Yet? After discussing the vampire saga’s racist, misogynistic origins, they get into the weeds over the franchise’s 150,000+ fanfictions
• Episode #051: Twitter Is Just 2014 Tumblr with Amanda Brennan. Meme Librarian Amanda Brennan (@continuants​) to discuss all things Tumblr, tagging, metadata, and fandoms-by-proxy.
• Episode #052: Tchotchkes & Headcanons. A fan-picked question from @lazaefair​: what is the deal with curatorial fandom, and how is it different from transformative fandom?
• Episode #053: Everyone Likes Problematic Things with StitchMediaMix. Stitch of Teen Vogue and Stitch’s Media Mix to discuss the current state of fandom, cyberbullying and harassment in fandom spaces
• Episode #054: We Finally Finished Orphan Black,Orphan Black (2013-2017)
• Episode #055: Coding & Fandom with @morethanonepage​. Violeta @morethanonepage, winner of 2021′s Fandom March Madness, to talk about coding. Why do so many Black characters in scifi have purple or blue skin? What’s the difference between queerbaiting and queer-coding?

• Episode #056: Four tales of New York City girls who are some stripe of American royalty and experience miracles to great soundtracks, The Princess Diaries
• Episode #057: We Have to Go Back. Fandoms they participated in before they really got into internet fandom (or before there was an internet at all).
• Episode #058: A Big F*cking Worm: An Interview with Foz Meadows. Four-time Hugo Award nominee Foz Meadows​. Dune, BTS, Call Me By Your Name, and the ravages of purity culture on fannish spaces.
• Episode #059: In Shining Armor
• Episode #060: The Series Finale. Get out the tissues, at least if you’re V! This is the final episode of I Met You On LJ. Maggie and V mark the occasion with a deep discussion about discourse and then count down their respective top five episodes of the show. We love you.

Guest Appearances

• Draco and Harry on Ice, 24 November 2020, Fine Pairings Podcast
• 039. Snow White and the Huntsman, 9 February 2021, Of Slippers and Spindles
• Antisemitism in Fandom, 5 March 2021, Shit Larries Say (V. Arrow only)
• 021. RPF, 5 April 2021, It's All Fandom
• 156. Exactly 100 Words on I Ship It Podcast (V. Arrow only)

Social Media

#FicTropeFriday

On January 1, 2021, I Met You On LJ began the hashtag #fictropefriday in celebration of great fic tropes. On 29 January 2021, IMYOLJ was featured in The Rec Center as guest fic reccers, and their picks were themed around the five tropes posted between 1/1/2021-1/29/2021 (Cavefic, Coffee Shop AU, Slow Burn, OT3, and Roommate AU).

I Met You On LJ is a weekly fandom podcast hosted by Maggie (glycerineclown) and V (aimmyarrowshigh), two fic writers and friends who met back on LiveJournal—but who haven’t had a fandom in common since then. Every week, we each choose one of our fandoms based on a theme and then compare and contrast them to find the universal through-lines. From our beginnings in the most different bandoms there could possibly be (Red Hot Chili Peppers and boy band Dream Street) to the surprisingly similar sci-fi movies we like (Ex Machina and Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century), we somehow always find something that we can relate to in each other’s experiences, if not their taste.

We also talk about fanfiction and fannish history—a lot—and have started two weekly series on our official site/tumblr that we think Rec Center readers would enjoy: This Week In Fandom History every Thursday, and #FicTropeFriday every Friday. To celebrate the latter, we’ve picked a fic rec for each of the five tropes highlighted so far in 2021! — Maggie & V

Snowed In

“The Last Man On Earth” by Survivah. 20K words, rated Explicit.

Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Sebastien “Booker” LeLivre/Nile Freeman

Recced by: V

Backstory: The Old Guard are a group of immortal humans from different eras in history; Booker, from the Napoleonic invasion of Russia, was the youngest until Nile discovers her immortality as a soldier in Afghanistan in 2020. Because the other immortal members of the Guard seem to have found soulmates with their immortality—Andromache/Quynh and Joe/Nicky are both canon pairings—many people suspect that Booker and Nile are touched by some amount of destiny to be together. However, while avoiding spoilers, let’s just say that Booker needs to do some work on himself before he deserves an eternal love as great as Nile.

Rec: This fic delves into one of the conundrums of Booker/Nile as a ship—can you really choose to be with someone if they are, essentially, the only person on Earth you can date without risking outliving them and breaking your own heart?—with both depth and humor. Nile’s despair at Booker being a sad old white man is both raw and funny, which is a hard balance to achieve, but this fic does it delightfully. And of course, the climax of being snowed in is delicious and hurts in the best way, just like a snowed in fic should.

Content Warnings: The Old Guard canon-typical violence

Coffee Shop AU

“sweet on you” by moogle62. 73K words, rated Explicit.

Fandom: The Social Network; Ship: Mark Zuckerberg/Eduardo Saverin

Recced by: Maggie

Backstory: It’s RPF in that technically The Social Network is a piece of RPF, and one that asked all the right emotional questions about betrayal when you go into business with your best friend—but this fic does away with most of that. Mark’s still the CEO of Facebook, and Eduardo runs a bakery down the street, churning out treats (and coffee!) that the whole office can’t get enough of. Mark is his typical, left-brained, cranky asshole self, and Eduardo gets in under the wire with sunshine, rainbows, great hair, and people skills. Chris and Dustin delight in teasing their friend who has not been on a date in years. It’s very fluffy.

Rec: Originally posted on LJ in 2011, this is a MarkWardo classic for good reason. I don’t usually go for ~workplace AUs, but this one gets at the core of their dynamic well, without the heavy emotional betrayal from the movie. Mark’s struggles to communicate with others feel totally appropriate for him, and Eduardo is absolutely charming. There’s domesticity and nice daily routines and endless pastries and so much facepalming. This is a very Obama-era fic, so if you want to disappear into a universe that feels totally separate from our own for a while, this fic is a good choice. The smut is great, and I like imagining Andrew Garfield in an apron. I’m hungry.

Content Warnings: None really. There’s a bit of humor re: women that belongs in the mid-2000s, but it’s not OOC for Mark.

Slow Burn

“to the sky without wings” by leupagus. 81K words, rated Mature.

Fandom: Star Wars; Ship: Poe Dameron/Luke Skywalker

Recced by: Maggie

Backstory: Over the course of a quarter century, in the shadow of Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron grows from a boy into a man, from a student at the Academy into a General. In that time, Luke mostly just goes from grumpy to grumpier as he fends off Poe’s advances for LITERAL DECADES. Much of the history included (Poe’s parents and their relationship to the Skywalkers) comes from the comics, but they aren’t necessary to read before this fic. If you have read the comics, particularly Shattered Empire, you will be absolutely delighted to see Kes Dameron and the Dameron koyo orchard come to life so beautifully in this fic.

Rec: This is a triumph. This is the slow burn to end all slow burns, with no real filler. I intentionally read it over a few days so that I could really savor it. The language changes so effectively as Poe grows up and it really makes this story feel immersive and intensely personal. Both V and I consider this fic among the best we’ve ever read.

Content warnings: Alcohol-influenced sex acts, age difference, mentions of sex slavery and trafficking.

OT3

“The Pauline Trilogy” by kaikamahine (antistar_e). 16K words over 3 works, rated Teen.

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians; Ship: Percy Jackson/Nico DiAngelo/Annabeth Chase

Recced by: V

Backstory: As demigods, the main characters of the Percy Jackson series have different powers depending on their godly heritage—Percy is the son of Poseidon, Nico the son of Hades, and Annabeth the daughter of Athena. As the son of Hades, Nico’s powers include shadowtravel, summoning ghosts, and sensing the presence of the dead, all of which are relevant in this dark and moving trilogy of one-shots. The original quintet of PJO books ends in a way that leaves the lingering question of what a young hero does after they’ve already saved the world and now have to live in it as just your average adult, and this trilogy answers it for Percy with thoughtfulness and joy.

Rec: This is one of the fics that is never far from my mind when I think about the power of transformation in transformative works. The use of language in the Pauline Trilogy is impeccable and so voicey it practically oozes personality, and it fits both the young ages of its protagonists and the casually traumatized, but aggressively optimistic, reaction to supernatural (and more human) horrors that they would face after the events of the PJO books. This trilogy is right up there with the gold standard of fanfiction for me.

Content Warnings: One vernacular use of an anti-Romany slur outside of that context; child death; violent crime against a child (mentioned).

And They Were Roommates

“sine qua non” by mellyfiori. 24K words, rated Explicit.

Recced by: V

Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova

Backstory: This is a modern, no-powers AU, so no backstory is necessary! In canon, Joe and Nicky are a canon couple of over 950 years who had the ugliest meet-ugly in the history of romance, but in this story, they begin as undergrads competing against one another in the Speech Team (Forensics) and things progress from there.

Rec: The face-clutching “oh my god, they’re roommates” of it all begins in Chapter 2 of this fic, and oh my god, they’re roommates, and I’m dying. The warmth that Joe and Nicky have for one another as best friends in this fic glows from the first words, despite their hilariously-translated-from-canon meet-ugly, and it makes the ache of their mutually unrequited pining feel realistic in a way that trope normally doesn’t achieve for me. You really get the sense that they see the other person as the most important in their world, and it’s understandable why they don’t want to risk that friendship by making a move even though in all universes, Joe and Nicky are made for each other. The supporting cast of characters, especially Joe’s sisters, make this version of Joe/Nicky feel totally fresh and totally real.

Content Warnings: N/A

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• Jan 1, 2021: Snowed In/Cavefic
• Jan 8, 2021: Coffee Shop AU/Coffee Shop AU
• Jan 15, 2021: Slow Burn/Slow Burn
• Jan 22, 2021: OT3/OT3
• Jan 29, 2021: And They Were Roommates/Roommate AU
• Feb 5, 2021: What's In Your Fic?/Fic Trope Bingo
• Feb 12, 2021: The Red String of Fate/Red String of Fate
• Feb 19, 2021: I Couldn't See Color Until I Met You/Sense Change Soulmates
• Feb 26, 2021: A/B/O/Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics
• Mar 5, 2021: Soulmate Marks/Soulmate Marks
• Mar 12, 2021: Historical AU/Historical AU
• Mar 19, 2021: OMG! BANG! SMASH!/Tongues Battling for Dominance
• Mar 26, 2021: Too Good for This World, Too Pure/Sweet Cinnamon Roll
• Apr 2, 2021: He stretched, revealing a strip of bare skin above his jeans…/Strip of Skin
• Apr 9, 2021: The Citrus Scale/Citrus Scale

This Week In Fandom History

On January 7, 2021, I Met You On LJ began This Week In Fandom History in celebration of the history of fandom.

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• Jan 7, 2021: 1/5/2005/LiveJournal sold to SixApart, marking the transition towards wider usability. However, the move also causes the Great LJ Blackout of 2005 when its servers have a massive power failure less than 10 days later.
• Jan 15, 2021: 1/11/1949/The first network TV broadcast airs on this day, connecting KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, PA, to Midwestern airwaves to show a live variety program. For the first time, friends across state lines could watch TV together.
• Jan 21, 2021: 1/19/2012/The massive uploading site MegaUpload was shut down by the FBI on this date. Fans regularly used MegaUpload to share rare music tracks and foreign TV episodes unavailable legally at the time.
• Jan 28, 2021: 1/25/1937/Guiding Light the longest-running TV franchise and ultimate soap opera, premieres this day on NBC... radio! While most of us don't think of GL as a major fandom today (the show ended in 2009 after 72 whopping years), it had a major impact on advertisers’ and networks’ understanding of audience participation and fervor.
• Feb 4, 2021: 2/4/2005/Star Trek: Enterprise is cancelled, launching a massive fan petition to Paramount and UPN. The fannish action ultimately raised over $3,000,000 (three million dollars) for the series’ continuation, but the networks passed.
• Feb 11, 2021: 2/9/1964/They love you yeah, yeah, yeah, yeahhhh! The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and fandom is changed forever, starting its path to being understood as a major cultural (and $$) force.
• Feb 18, 2021: 2/16/2018/Marvel’s groundbreaking Black Panther hits theaters to massive success. Besides being an instant fan-favorite, the film would go on to become the first superhero movie nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.
• Feb 25, 2021: 2/21/2005/Avatar: The Last Airbender debuts on Nickelodeon with an hour-long series premiere episode. The ATLA universe is a fandom juggernaut, with over 23,000 fics on AO3 alone!
• Mar 4, 2021: 3/2013/The Flower Crown Meme starts in 1D fandom and quickly spreads across fandom, taking root (heh) most in Hannibal. This fannish trope eventually moved into realspace with Harry Styles donning crowns in concert and the Hannibal cast wearing them at SDCC.
• Mar 11, 2021: 3/8/2016/Inspired by the death of Lexa on The 100 – and the deaths of many other queer woman characters in the 2015-2016 TV season – the enormous fan initiative LGBT Fans Deserve Better begins on Tumblr and quickly spreads across social media and into realspace.
• Mar 18, 2021: 3/18/1999/Brad Fitzpatrick launches LiveJournal on this date.
• Mar 25, 2021: 3/26/2005/Doctor Who returns to the BBC after a 16-year hiatus, premiering with Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor.

Fandom March Madness reboot

In 2021, I Met You On LJ relaunched Fandom March Madness with permission from penumbra, typicrobots, and astrofisica, after a five-year hiatus. They made several changes to the format having moved from LiveJournal to Tumblr and Instagram, including changes from the brackets being between characters to being between fandoms and removing the Steel Cage Match round.

On 27 February 2021, they posted the bracket download information and list of Top 64 Fandoms in an announcement post.

On March 30, 2021, they announced that The Old Guard was the final champion, with bracket submitter morethanonepage having submitted the closest full bracket.