Good-Bye, 2016

/ December 31, 2016

As we finally reach the eve of the New Year, the reflection on the year that is behind us is inevitable. It has been a remarkable year in many respects – not all of them positive, though. But looking back at my blogging year, I am almost surprised to have arrived at a point where I feel so content and calm about my “parallel life in fangirling”… I am going to compile a few of my favourite moments and stats of the last year here, before this year is put to bed. I hope the little stroll down memory road is going to be fun for you, too, because many, if not all of the memories, contain you… A look back at the most looked-at posts of this last year…

2016 – The Highlights

January

You wouldn’t expect a year to have a highlight as early as January, but it happened this year – when I think of all the cheeky fun we had with our poetic outpourings. The creativity of the fandom manifested itself in plenty of odes, written in comments, and generated a massively viewed post back then. Here’s one ode to remind you of the fun we had – jump to the post if you want to read more of the kind.

RA fan girling ode

February

February is the month of luuuuurve. Our all chéri, aka himself, provided inspiration for an overload of hearts and sweetness. Or maybe hotness? In any case, the Valentine’s Day RAPS generated the highest number of comments this year – 212. That’s when blogging is at its most fun for me…

IMG_5331 sm

March

I pulled away from social media for the month of March, using Lent to recalibrate and calm down a bit *coughs*. As usual, an enforced period of calm usually results in inspiration of some sort. The words just want out. I sometimes wonder whether I am in the wrong area of journalism… I have the sensationalist gossip-style down… Here are my fake news from March, and a funny screenshot I took on the interwebs.

Buy Guy 1

April

The round-ups are *always* much viewed on my blog, a fact that simultaneously delights me and frustrates me. I think it is great that there is so much interest in the things that happen creatively on tumblr, hence I am happy to provide the service. Occasionally I almost feel jealous of the round-ups’ popularity, though. My chosen highlight from April, however, is a short post about an interview that surfaced, with Richard talking about UATSC. I re-watched the interview in preparation for this end-of-year post, and I have to say it was a pleasure listening to him and seeing him talk, again.

Unrelated, entirely gratuitous illustration for April: Neckitage without any background distraction.

Neckitage no background

May

You haven’t got enough of the fan-written odes? Then check out this post from May. More lyrical waxing courtesy of fans.

Porter Snake Hips

June

Before silly season totally hit, Richard unwittingly dropped a bombshell. One of his own essays, written for Cybersmile. I always have to reign myself in and resist writing “Cybershite”…  Controversial. Much discussed. I added my two cents here.

Soothe yourself with some neck porn, screenshot by me but from a gif set provided by circusgifs.

Circusgifs neckpornHope that did the trick.

July

Great news broke over the summer: RA to be on stage in a play off-Broadway in New York. Time to wheel out the fandom identifiers, aka badges. The good news: They are all gone. And I have heard that they actually have instigated a number of conversations among fans who would otherwise not have met. My work here is done.

badges for NYC

August

August is the birthday month. And I was somehow at a low-point. Not sure what was up with me – maybe I was away from the blog too much; that often has the effect of making me wonder what I am doing… In any case, the RA birthday countdown totally got my spirits up again. I’m such a comment-slut… We made another fantastic donation from the birthday auctions again – thank you so much for your participation!

Armitage cake

September

Double-premiere month. And a big fandom month for me, personally, as I set off on a holiday in Greece with five wonderful women whom I have met in the RA fandom. The first two episodes of BS were released, Guylty was not fully convinced, but hey, OTOH there was dat arse again…

dat-arse-againOctober

After a loooong absence, Guylty returned to *ooof*ing again, not least because all the promo for BS brought with it some really nice photos. Resolution for 2017: Write one *ooof* per month? Since this *ooof* was the top-viewed post, I take that as encouragement for my plans…

ra-sterchi-gaze

November

Three words: Love Love Love. Need I say more? A trip to New York. Lots of fan meets. And Mr A live on stage in an avantgarde production called Stage Door Runner. Ok, and another little play, too. Which is yet unreviewed. Sigh. 2017?

Blade Runner US One Sheet Linen-backedDecember

Finally, December hit with an impromptu run of raffle fun on guylty.wp.com. My favourite item was actually not the photo book, nor my RAPS. I have become totally addicted to sewing those zipper pouches. Once 2017 has got us back in a routine, I am going to design a couple more fabrics and sew more of those discreet fangirly bags. I have already been delivered 96 zippers to facilitate that.

Thank goodness the mistletoe has come down. Otherwise I’d be totally distracted…

xmas-card-16-copy~/*🎆*\~

Before I ring in the new year over chocolate fondue and some comfy movie time on my couch, a big thank you to you all, dear readers and friends, who have kept me company in the fandom in 2016. I have enjoyed reading your blog posts, your tweets, and your comments. I have loved your creativity and your thoughts on all things that have moved us this year. And I was overwhelmed by your presents and your friendship!  I look forward to experiencing the world with you, through you, next year, too. As for Richard… well…

Dear Richard,

how thrilling to read in the Pnay Plus interview that you are contemplating your return to Britain. Of course, as a European-based fan, I very much like to hear that. And I am pleased to know you feel you have accomplished what you wanted to achieve in the US. This year has certainly been a case in point: You have fronted not only a play in a prestigious theater in New York, but you also achieved top-billing in a US-made, modern spy drama. Congratulations on that. – On a personal level, I have greatly enjoyed reading your thoughts on politics and society, and seeing you involved in worthy causes via your commitment to charities and by actually pitching in at a refugee centre in Berlin. I like what you do – and how you do it. You remain my favourite artist – not just for your art, but also your attitude.

Wishing you – and us – the strength to conquer our fears, to make the world a lighter place. Your smile already lights mine!

With love,

Guylty ❤️

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49 thoughts on “Good-Bye, 2016”

  3. Wenn es viele Aufrufe gibt, hast du ein paar davon immer mir zu verdanken – weil ich keine Benachrichtigungen nutze und weil ich gerne mal auf “Seite neu laden” klicke, ohne das immer zu wollen. *g*

    Guten Rutsch! Und kommt alle gut nach 2017. 🙂

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    • Hope you had a nice end of the year – and have a few more days at home. And yes, with all the bad stuff in the world, it’s important to remember the good. There is a lot of it out there – past as well as future. x

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  9. Happiest New Year to you and your family and friends. I was lucky enough to share some time with you last year and hope the stars align for it to happen again this new year. You are ray a sunshine on a dreary day. And in too much sunshine, you are a cool breeze. In other words, I am so glad to be sharing the planet with you and other RA devotees on your blog and elsewhere. My life has been enriched immeasurably by all of you.

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    • hehe, the ray of sunshine – is an apt description, in the sense that “sunshine” was one of my early nicknames 🙂
      And thank you for such lovely words. I should print them out and keep them handy for one of those days when I feel more like a bed smell in hell or something abysmal like that. The great thing about being part of a group like ours, is, that for every bad day one might have, others are there to brighten it up. That’s what I enjoy – and crave. I haven’t been disappointed in this so far, and I am confident that 2017 will provide us with more opportunity to have fun together. If we can conjure up more opportunities to do that in RL, together, that would be great. I loved our times spent together in 2016 – I won’t hesitate to do it again! xx

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  15. Happy new year to you and your family, all good wishes to you all. As well to our sunnyboy who spent his holidays in the french Alpes ( he has mentioned it). Unfortunately I am living in the wrong place of France to happen to meet him

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  16. Happy New Year, Guylty, with grateful thanks for all wonderful roundups and other fun you generate here.

    All the best for 2017 to you and everyone else who contributes here. A warmer, wittier bunch you couldn’t hope to find.

    And last but not least, to Mr. A, for being who he is.

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    • Thank you, Jenny! Your comments and participation adds to the fun. It’s like a group effort, really – let#s hope we’ll continue the fun together in 2017.
      Oh, and I like your last sentence – Mr A, being who he is. I second that!

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  17. Here’s to a wonderful 2017, Guylty! I’ve really enjoyed your posts (and your raffles too! Hee hee). I really like the *ooof*’s… it’s great when we can learn something through our fangirling. If you get inspired to do more of the ooof ficlets,that would be great too!

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  19. UFF!!!
    Sorry, dass ich keinen Geschmack habe, aber das neue Erscheinungsbild deines Blogs … Nee, zu unruhig für meine schwachen Nerven. (Nützt dir aber nix ich les trotzdem weiter, höhöhö.)

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    • Och, daran gewöhnt man sich nach einer Weile auch… ist ja nur so ein bisschen bunt am Rand, Hedgie. Und auf so einem Blog ist ja sowieso nichts in Stein gemeißelt. Wer weiß, wann ich den nächsten Rappel kriege und das gesamte Blog-Design umstelle 😉

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      • Darf ich es auch einfach ignorieren und hoffen, dass der nächste Rappel *bald* kommt? *gg*

        Sorry, nee, Babyblau und Gelb ist fast so schlimm wie Pastellrosa-mit-“Hello Kitty”-Blödkatze, da retten auch die Rollensymbole nix mehr. *schauder*

        Ernsthaft: Was wirklich GUT wirkt, ist der Seitenkopf. Gefällt mir viel besser als vorher. 🙂

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