Slash Goggles:Owners' Manual

What Are Slash Goggles?

Usually this would be the part of the post where I would pull the definition from Urban Dictionary and then expand on things from there. But, I'm not going to do that this time because, well, that definition sucks. However, if you wanna see it, Here it is. Now, to me, slash goggles don't make you see things that necessarily aren't there, they make you see more than you normally would without them. I don't think that you see you're first slash pairing because you're wearing slash goggles. Its more along the lines of you obtain a pair of slash goggles after you see your first slashy pairing, which in turn opens your eyes to all the different wavelengths in the slash spectrum, so to speak.

And, just to clarify for those who weren't already made aware, Slash Goggles do not actually exist. You can't just run down to Walmart and pick up a pair, 'cuz, well, they're really just a metaphor.

How do they work?

Slash Goggles simply enhance your viewing of various TV shows and movies and sometimes even what you see in real life. Basically, you'll start to notice things about a certain pair of friends that maybe you never paid any mind to, such as how they look at each other when one of them might not be looking; how they seem to communicate with one another without having to say anything at all; how they touch each other way more than normal "best friends" should; how everything they say to one another seems to have some sort of innuendo attached to it ...etc.

The list is really endless. And you'll see it all. Though it might take some practice and multiple viewings to get the full effect of the pairing.

Terms of Use: Abuse and Cracks.

Once you acquire a pair of SG's, it is vital that you do not abuse that privilege. Slashers are not exactly the most, er, loved people in the fanfic community. Most people find the concept absolutely disgusting and will jump at any chance they get to crucify them. Now, what do I mean by abuse? I'm referring to "Slashing at first sight". I've touched upon it briefly and have already told you that it's a big no-no.

Slash is a lot like ghost hunting. You need evidence (sometimes stacks and stacks of it) to back up any pairing. Saying two people are doing it just because they're both sexy isn't evidence. That may be the initial reason that pairing caught your eye, but now you need to put those SG's to work and find something to back up your claims. If you can do that convincingly enough, you'll be able to turn anyone (and I mean anyone) into as slasher.

Now on to Cracks. When someone says "Wow, there are way too many cracks in my slash goggles!" they simply mean that they're seeing the slash between two people that one wouldn't normally put together. And, usually, these pairings are really people you'd never want to be together but you can see it happening. However, sometimes parings that you see through cracks end up being not as far fetched as you originally thought.

A Final Word of Caution...

Slash goggles are like plastic surgery, once you get it, it's pretty much a permanent fixture on your body. So beware, because once you start, you won't be able to stop.

Catch y'all on the flip side,

~Allie

Intro-Why I love Slash.

So I'm guessing,(and I'm really just taking a shot in the dark here) that if you stumbled across this blog you're a fan of slash. Or maybe you're just procrastinating and started to Google random shit and this came up so you were like "Hey, why the Hell not?" (That's ok. We all do it.)

Either way, whether you're a veteran slasher who just wants to see what another one of their kind has to say on the subject or a newbie just wanting to test the slashy waters, you came to the right place. In this blog I will be discussing everything and anything that has to do with Slash (as said in the description over to your right).

Now, for those of you who don't know (and I'm talking to you, random Googlers...) Slash, as defined by Urbandictionary.com, is a Genre of fanfiction involving pairing two male or female characters together; characters are commonly shown with a slash in between. And, yes, if you didn't already realize, that 'together' right there implies romantic involvement. Although it's called "slash" basically for the sole reason of the slash being in between the two characters names, it's not exclusive to same sex pairings. A slash is most commonly a symbol used to show pairings in general. But it was originally used to show the pairing Kirk/Spock, which was the founding pairing of all fanfiction, slash or otherwise.

Ok, so now that all that technical jazz is out of the way, I'd like to tell you all about how I got started in Slash and what (I think) qualifies me to act as sort of a guide and a critic of all things slashy.

It all began way back when I was but a lowly high school freshman. This was when I was first introduced to fanfiction for my favorite TV show at the time, Lost. When I first started out reading fics, all I read was het(male/female pairing), Jack and Kate het to be exact. And, as fans of Lost, especially Lost fanfiction know, there was an ongoing war between those who shipped Jack and Kate (or "Jaters") and those who preferred Kate and Sawyer ("Skaters").

Although I don't remember exactly how I made the switch from an avid het reader to a die-hard slasher, I think it was somewhere along the lines of this: Kate got more and more annoying as a character and I realized that I didn't want her to be with anyone. And, Jack and Sawyer were really hot so why shouldn't they be together? So, after a quick Google search I found a Jawyer Livejournal community, and I was hooked.

Now, yes, initially, I broke the cardinal rule of slashing: Putting two guys together based purely on looks with no real evidence to back it up. However, the more I read and the more I re-watched episodes, the more slash I saw, thus acquiring my very own pair of Slash Goggles. And there was no going back from there.

For awhile there, Jawyer was my OTP, but, as all obsessions soon do, my addiction to Lost eventually fizzled out. But my slasher days were far from being over.

After Jawyer came Briley (Ben and Riley from "National Treasure") and after Briley came my first journey into Real Person Slash (RPS) with David Cook and Michael Johns, otherwise know as Mavid, from the 7th season of American Idol.

Nowadays, I don't really stick to just one pairing at a time like I used to. I still love my classic pairings, but now I have multiple fandoms with multiple pairings that I follow. Basically, thanks to the increasing tightness of my Slash Goggles, I can pretty much see the slash in anything I want, with the evidence to back it up as well.

Ok, so basically, that's my story. I'll get more into the use of Slash Goggles and how to use them properly in my next segment. But until then...

I'll Catch you on the Flip Side!

~Allie