TORCHSONG! Oh, the hilarity.

[tencrush]

Yeah, so I dip my toes back into fandom and find this whole Torchsong hilarity on Fandom Wank. There are things I could say about this particular wank but sisterelwood has already been succinct enough to sum up my thoughts in the comments:

If you don't want something talked about then don't fucking tell a convention full of strangers. It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. Additionally, anyone who dropped that much money on an event and didn't bother to understand the refund policy or make sure they were handing over money to a reputable group deserves to have their money stolen.

This whole thing isn't so much funny as a case study in fucking stupidity.

LOL. Comment of truth FTW!

Okay, actually I do have one or two things to say on the subject of Torchsong and -WAHEY!- John Barrowman. When do I ever not?

• There's a few comments at the anonmeme about John's behaviour, but I try not to read the anonmeme too much, if indeed at all, so I only skimmed over them. There was, however, a nice comparison somewhere between John Barrowman and a pedophile. Which was loltastic and very much to the point, the point being that this attitude of JB's of "I do special personal stuff for you convention guys! Stuff I don't do for ANYONE ELSE! Please keep it to yourself or they'll make me not do that special stuff anymore, so if you love me and want to be my special friend, you won't tell anyone about the special stuff we do together!" IS FUCKING CREEPY AND MANIPULATIVE AS FUCK. Seriously. CREEPY. In fact, I'm starting to think JB has some sort of narcissistic or histrionic personality disorder. I hope I didn't type that out loud just then.
  
  Really, though. Creepy. Creepy and weird, but mostly creepy.


• If John really wants to drag his non-celebrity other half and said other half's arse into the public eye, why doesn't he just do something REALLY tasteful like Celebrity Wife Swap or All Star Mr. and Mrs. or something like that? Maybe, now that the André's are splitting up, they could do a reality thing to replace Jordan and Peter Stateside on ITV 2. Or is it 3? (I mean, it's not like there's a Torchwood Season 4. We all know this.) It's obviously the sort of thing he's aiming for. TACKY!


• GDL uses Viagra? What drug habit is he compensating for, dudes? Answers on a postcard. (I'm guessing speed? Maybe coke?)

Crazy times, people. Crazy times.

Comments

[meleth.livejournal.com]

Oh god, poor Scott.

[off_coloratura]

JB should be kept far, far away from conventions at all times.

And poor GDL. I chalk it up to the pressured expectations of celebrity.

[tigercheetah.livejournal.com]

I do feel sorry for Scott and I don't think John should encourage him to be in the public eye in any way, except for the more serious stuff like The Making of Me. Scott might be ok with his public behaviour at the time but not after he's had 24 hours to think it over. Then again, Scott might be even worse than John in real life, we just don't know.

I like John's comment that Jack's feelings for Gwen are sexual but what he feels for Ianto is "so much more" because I don't know whether to take him seriously or not. We'll have to wait and see.

[venusinchains.livejournal.com]

The first Torchsong post I saw convinced me to bypass the rest. In it, the op kept answering comments with a phrase that basically amounted to: 'We con-goers may have to retroactively form a united front to cover this information (so I'm apologizing in advance for ever mentioning it).'

Wank was inevitable. (And if enough money is involved, it'll probably outlast TW itself - barring the announcement of a season 4.)

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

Not to say that JB doesn't occasionally hit my embarrassment squick, or that it isn't kind of stupid to do/say something in a more or less public space if you're really worried about it getting out, but I've got to disagree about the 'creepy and manipulative' thing. For one thing, no one is getting harmed, except possibly those who weren't there and don't get to see the pictures/videos/whatever, which is hardly 'harm' by any definition, and for another thing, it's not as if he has any kind of real leverage over his fans. So IMO the pedophilia comparison is completely inappropriate in just about any way.

And his other half is a grown man in his mid forties, who has been increasingly in the public eye over the last couple of years and seems fully capable of making his own decisions, so I think it's hardly more respectful to accuse JB of dragging him in front of that camera against his will...

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

The "don't pass it on" thing is very odd, especially as regards stuff which is already public knowledge (such as the tree sex story, which is in the biog)... odd to the point where I suspect it's either:

- being misreported; for example, a (reasonable) request not to share audio or video of the interview getting blown up into a (strange) blanket request for silence

or:

- it's just some sort of legal disclaimer he's obliged to throw in.

[takenatwork.livejournal.com]

I can't agree the fans 'deserved' to lose their money, but still it's a lesson learnt, never go to a con based around one person. Speaking of which, if there is a refund deadline on The Hub in October, they might want to give that a re-think.

I don't think John does anything 'off the cuff'. He's playing a game and it's up to the mostly adult fans whether they want to play it. If they choose to, that's their right. I'm with you though, I wouldn't play.

Being the wrong side of 50, I realise how much being a fan has changed. Then it was pure fantasy, you let your imagination fill in the gaps, now it has to be so real. Sad.

My interest this weekend was for Gareth. He's come in for some flak for his cons lately, so I'm pleased he did good. Whatever mistakes he makes, he learns and that's OK by me.

I've read your later post, but thought I'd comment to this one.

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

I just assumed that the Viagra was taken recreationally. Some dick = good, more dick = better.

[alba17.livejournal.com]

I don't find JB asking people to keep things a secret creepy. It's just annoying. But probably just a rhetorical device, like smirnoffmule said. But also annoying how everyone attending went into lockstep and hasn't spilled the beans on the so-called super sekrit.

GDL - my first thought when I read the Viagra story was he was compensating for alcohol. I'm utterly ignorant of the ways and uses of Viagra, however, so don't know if that's something people actually do.

[tigercheetah.livejournal.com]

Not sure whether to believe the Viagra story or not. Apparently the effects don't last for more than a few hours, otherwise people across the world would be arriving at work still on a high, as it were.

Not that I have any real knowledge of the product.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I thought about going to this 'convention', but when I saw the price, I thought, gee the annual Dr. Who convention in Chicago is no where near as expensive and at least I'll know who is going to (allegedly) appear. One look at their pathetic web site told me all I needed to know. No list of panels, activities until the last minute.

Clearly, this was a Barrowman show with a few Torchwood guests thrown in. I'd love to hear him in concert - but a concert is held, well, in a concert venue. And no, we're not short of those in Chicago. And if the fan-girls are happy to have spent $500 bucks to basically see him on TV - hey its their money. But I know I'd be pretty pissed to have spent that kind of $ for a cabaret show and then not get it refunded when the headliner couldn't appear. But the organizers were smart, by making it a 'convention' with the 'guests subject to availability' they covered themselves pretty well.

I'm not blaming anyone for not appearing - this convention seems to have had the curse of the Weevils on it - but I hope that Barrowman will be a little more careful of who he does business with.

Two other items -
John - if he was driving while on painkillers (when he was supposed to be resting with his foot elevated)then he's an idiot. I really hope that's not true.

Gareth - Viagra - yep its too much alcohol. Not suprised since his idol is apparently Dylan Thomas.

Anyway, thanks for the reality-check. After reading all the squeeling fan-girl reports on the web, I was beginning to think (ok for like a nanosecond) that I should have spent the money