Thursday, October 1, 2015

Series: First (And Third) #TBT- Week 3 Spotlight: Lizzie [Contributor: Maddie]

Maddie approached me about doing a Throwback Thursday (#tbt, for all you Internet-savvy folks) piece where we highlight, bi-monthly, our writers. She noted that what makes our site unique and separates it from all of the other entertainment sites out there is the personal touch each of the writers put on their reviews. Throughout this #tbt series, you'll get the chance to know each of us as individual writers a little bit more and hopefully relate to us a little bit more as well. Thanks, Maddie, for such a great idea!
It's officially October, people! Fall television is back, Target is being filled with pumpkin-flavored products, apparently in some places the weather is actually getting cooler (as a SoCal girl I wouldn't know what that feels like), and we have another installment of our #ThrowbackThursday series. This week I (Maddie) got to talk to the lovely Lizzie about her nostalgic faves. Enjoy!

CONTRIBUTING WRITER: LIZZIE
(31 years old)

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Q: What was your first major TV obsession and how did it impact you and your taste in television?

A: The X-Files. I feel like all my answers are going to be The X-Files-related. I was nine when it premiered, and I guess at that age I wasn’t even supposed to be watching it, but my parents were always very open, and so I presented my argument and was allowed to watch it. And, oh, I made it an event. I turned off all the lights, and no one could like, come into my room or anything. Not even if I screamed (which happened often). In the years that have passed since then, I’ve been left with an enduring love for procedural shows and will-they or won’t-they relationships that this show is completely responsible for.

Q: What Disney movie do you still love to watch and sing the songs to?

A: This has to be a trick question, because  you can’t possibly expect me to pick JUST one. Sleeping Beauty was my first love, and then Aladdin was my second love, but then... look, Disney is like the one thing you don’t give up when you get older. So, I don’t even feel embarrassed to say that I sing both “Let it Go” AND “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” like, three or four times a week. I just randomly burst into song like in a musical. That’s how much I love both songs. But, I have a Disney playlist on my iPod, and it’s one of those things that I listen to at least once a week.


Q: What pop culture obsession are you a little embarrassed of loving so much in retrospect?

A: Sailor Moon. I’m not usually embarrassed about things I love, but I recognize how silly it all was, in retrospect. Doesn’t mean I don’t love it.

Q: Here's a fun little game: what nostalgic music would you pick for one of your OTPs today? (For example, during seasons two and three of Once Upon a Time I regularly listened to "It's Gonna Be Me" by NSYNC because it gave me major Captain Swan feelings.)

A: “Thank You” by Dido gives me so many Olicity feels, and it’s the first song that came to my mind when you asked this question. Maybe because I’m still in Olicity angst mode, but yeah, I can imagine Oliver saying all of that.

Q: What movie or television show do you still quote on a regular basis?

A: So many. I’m one of those annoying people who remembers everything. I’m like an elephant. I remember the first lines (and last lines) from my favorite books. I memorize quotes. I remember what you were wearing that first time we met seventeen years ago. It’s absurd. So I can, and do quote Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, House, Gilmore Girls, and oh, I quote The Godfather. All the time. You’d think I was Italian, I quote it so much. “Leave the gun, take the canoli” is like, my answer to everything.

There’s a reason the term “shipping” started with these two.

Q: Who was your television OTP before you even knew the term existed?

A: Mulder/Scully. I was there for that since like, episode three. On re-watch it’s kind of obvious that we waited like, six seasons too long for them to happen.

Q: What was your first Internet fandom and what brought you to it?

A: It was the The X-Files, but I wasn’t really involved then. I mainly just lurked and read fanfic. My first real, totally involved fandom was Harry Potter. I was still pretty young when I got involved, sixteen or so (years before the fifth book came out). I remember getting the first four books and reading them in like, three or four days and then just not knowing what to do. I needed more. I needed to talk to someone, I needed to read fanfic, I needed to analyze the books to death and to dissect them. And since there was NO ONE around me willing to have the in-depth conversations I wanted to have, I just went online stumbled onto a Harry/Ginny site, and then just never left.

Exhibit A of Lizzie’s love of Harry Potter

Q: First show/ship you read fanfiction for?

A: Again, The X-Files. I told you this was going to be the answer to everything. As I said before, Harry Potter was my first experience of being involved in fandom. But reading? Oh, yes. I read so much X-Files fanfic in my day that I was literally surprised when, just last week, someone linked me to a good story written back in the days that I had never read. It was disappointing. I was sure I’d read all there was.

Q: Who is your favorite F.R.I.E.N.D?

A: Monica. Maybe because, at times, I feel like a Monica minus the obsessive cleaning thing. I can be pretty OCD about things, and I hate losing and just love to have friends around all the time. Also, I would totally do the turkey thing. But then, I also love Chandler. I think I’m more Chandler in my sense of humor than Monica, but I relate to her more. So, yes, Monica. Or Phoebe. I love them all! Don’t make me choose!


Q: First TV boyfriend?

A: David Boreanaz as Angel. Didn’t even have to THINK about that one. Even though The X-Files came first, I was a little too young to look at Mulder that way. And then Angel just... wow. I was in love. I was willing to share him with Buffy, because an OTP is an OTP, but I was in love. So in love that, to this day, even though I’ve gone through, like, twenty other TV boyfriends, I still watch Bones. David Boreanaz is there. I can’t help it.

Q: What was the first show that inspired you to write about it?

A: The X-Files. If the creators had done the Mulder/Scully relationship justice, I might not be a writer today, because somewhere around season four or five, I just started thinking: "No, this is not the way this is supposed to go. They’re wrong. I have a better idea and I need to find a way to express it." So I started writing.

Q: What has been your favorite thing about being involved in fandoms?

A: The people I’ve met. I’ve been pretty involved in fandoms. I’ve met so many wonderful people that defy the label “Internet friendships”: people whose weddings I’ve attended, whose houses I’ve stayed in, whose kids call me aunt. And it’s funny because you think you can’t feel as close to someone who’s on the other side of the world as you feel to the people you talk to every day, but that’s a lie. You absolutely can. You can make real friends, best friends, and it’s amazing, surprising and humbling. I’m lucky and I know it.


Q: Favorite kiss from 90s to early 2000s in TV and film?

A: Either Josh and Cher’s first kiss from Clueless, or the kiss at the end of Never Been Kissed. Yeah, probably the latter one. Josh and Cher are cute, but they’ve got nothing on Drew Barrymore and Michael Vartan in the middle of the baseball field, after she put herself out there that way. I just... yeah, I just re-watched that scene and felt just as nervous as the first time.

Q: What TV friendship did you aspire to have growing up?

A: Is it weird to say Lorelai and Rory? I wanted that when I was growing up. I kind of still want that with the imaginary kid I one day plan to have. But then, later on, I wanted a friendship like Christina and Meredith’s on Grey’s Anatomy. I was already pretty grown up at the time, but they were (and still sort of are) my friendship goals. Because it was never about being alike or understanding each other, it was about being there. All the time. No matter what.


Q: Finally, what female fictional character from television past was the most influential on you? Why?

A: I think the answer is either Scully or Buffy, or a combination of both. Scully taught me that it was okay to go against expectations, that common sense was your most important weapon and that changing your mind wasn’t the same as giving in, but Buffy, Buffy taught me how to be strong. And I don’t even mean in the physical sense, I mean in the "taking care of everyone, having the weight of the world on your shoulders and still moving forward kind" of way. And though I haven’t had to fight any real monsters, the literal ones have been easier to defeat because of those lessons I learned from her.

1 comment:

  1. Now I know all your secrets Lizzie. ALL YOUR X-FILES SECRETS! How is it that everything is X-Files about you? I feel blessed, by whatever mysterious force created this world, to have met you. You brighten my day and I love you! <3 *tackle hug*

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