I just spent a large part of my night reading "Dis/Locating Audience: Transnational Media Flows and the Online Circulation of East Asian Television Drama" by Xiaochang Li. (I found the file on my computer. I guess I must have downloaded it looking for academic articles in relation to Asian Pop culture).

At certain parts I was like "I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS" or "OMG I READ THEM TOO" or "ARASHI!" or "I TOTES DO THAT TOO!" It was really interesting to read about Asian dramas in such an academic light. I really recommend it. Who knew that being a fan was all that? XD

I have a couple of Henry Jenkins' books and particpatory culture in fandom is such a compelling topic since basically I am a fan. I remember stumbling across Henry Jenkins' name on someone's blog post of LJ post. I'm not quite sure which and I'm not quite sure what it was about. Actually, I'm not quite sure at all now. Was I googling him for a specific purpose? Or was I googling something else and he turned up? I really don't remember. Maybe I did an LJ post about it eons ago. Shall check archives. Anyway, my point is, I stumbled across his name and I guess what he was about ... oh, no, wait (oh, wow, this is like some stream of consciousness right here). Maybe I stumbled across his book in Kinokuniya in the media section then I googled him? In any case, I have 2 of his books: "Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Media Consumers in a Digital Age" and "Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide". I love that I totally understand what he's talking about.

I would love to see more academic writing on Asian dramas and/or pop culture. I found some journal articles in the area on google scholar but they're a few years old. There's nothing particularly recent. I wish I had the brain to write an academic paper on fandom. Fandom and the internet. Seriously, fandom and the internet is just amazing. What would either of them do without the other? XD

I think not being exposed to Asian dramas would have made me a different person. This is not an exaggeration. I had no desire to learn Japanese or Korean before watching Asian dramas. I didn't have a desire to travel to Japan or South Korea or anywhere in Asia that wasn't the Philippines (because I am Filipino and it's like - well, how could I not go? XD) Before watching Asian dramas I hadn't eaten at any Japanese or Korean restaurants. I didn't really go to Chinatown or Kinokuniya. I know how to navigate parts of the internet better now. I remember when I first became a fan that I was constantly searching for a community to access content or discuss dramas or just get recommendations. I wonder how different it would have been if I didn't have all those things now. I wouldn't have the friends I would now. I met a lot of them in Korean language class at uni.

Actually, thinking about it now and typing it out - wow, seems like I owe Asian dramas a lot. XD