When Fandom Goes Askew

Here's the part where I once again reveal that I am little more then a geeked up fanboy. I'm a huge Kevin Smith fan. Clerks was one of the films that inspired me to write and produce my own ill fated films. Mallrats was one of those films where I got on early (ie. 1 of 6 people in the theater opening day) and was able to spend the next 3 years turning people on to it. Chasing Amy is in my rotating top 20 films. Dogma got me fired up against the religous right and taught me how annoying I can be when I harp on sharing a DVD extra. Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back was the opposite of Mallrats as I sat in a theater with a preview audience who got every joke. And Jersey Girl was actually quite good despite the aura of Bennifer version 1.0.

I've read Smith's comic books. (Some like Green Arrow have been quite good, while others like Spiderman/Black Cat are only marginal.) I've got two posters of his movies hanging in my home office with signed Silent Bob and Jay figures hanging between them. I've bought hockey jerserys, t shirts and inaction figures all showing my support for View Askew productions (and high fashion). And part of my daily web routine includes checking out newsaskew.com, silentbobspeaks.com, and the clerks2.com websites. Yesterday I added Kevin as on of my friends on the sex predator site known as MySpace.

I had a point here, really I did but after writing all that it seems like a cop out. I was going to write about the fact that even to the ardent fan there is a point where you get too much from the subject of your fandom. Kevin is a truly entertaining guy who has no problem sharing his flaws as a human being. On his blog the other day he told a story about his first threesome with a friend who was engaged at the time (the fiancee was not a participant) and the subsequent guilt he felt afterward. When I read that this morning I felt a little guilty myself. Guilty for reading such a private and personal tale and passing judgement one way or the other. I was going to write about the fact that maybe the comfort and community that Kev's created with his fans has its limits for both parties and that there are times to keep things to yourself. Then I wrote the previous three paragraphs and realized that's part of what makes this work. So keep up the dick and fart jokes and thanks for the MySpace ad.