Two Years with Damian Lewis

Hello Everyone!

Fan Fun with Damian Lewis is two years old today!

Here we are… 731 days, 489 blog posts and over 478K views from 174 countries later… absolutely thrilled and totally beaming about how far we have come thanks to YOU! Our birthday is the perfect opportunity to thank YOU, our wonderful readers, for the amazing love and support you have given us for the past two years. Thank you for reading us, giving us feedback, following us on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. Thank you for making Fan Fun a part of your life and we hope you stay with us and keep sharing the FUN! From Billions Season 2 to Goat, or Who is Sylvia? Damian has so much in store for us this year!

With Love,

Fan Fun Team

Damianista *chokes with emotion*

The day I made the first ever post here feels like yesterday. I remember it felt just right even though I did not know what to hope for other than a few readers. I somehow knew I would have fun doing this and meet like-minded fans along the way to team up with. What I did not know was we would have the BEST TEAM one could ever imagine! I liberally steal a quote from Damian that he used to describe the characters in Billions to describe my partners because I could not put it in better words: “Everyone is smart, witty, and a little bit better than the last person.” Thank you, team, YOU ROCK!

One person that has been there since the inception of the blog is Lewisto. Have I ever told you it was him who named the blog? Oh, yes! He said: “You are a big fan and you will be doing this for fun so why not call it Fan Fun with Damian Lewis?” And being the rational guy that he is, he suggested I run with this only if I thought I could commit for at least two years so it would be worth the effort. I said I could do that and so today feels extra special. Thank you, Lewisto, for being YOU!

We also owe thanks to sites/pages that have been generous in sharing our posts: Friends of Major Dick Winters on Facebook, Damians Gal on Tumblr, and Billions Group on Facebook. Thank you so much for your support, it’s a real pleasure to know you!

I sometimes jokingly liken the blog to a baby in terms of the attention it needs. You need to feed her (We constantly produce content!), take care of her (Who knew I would study how to remove render-blocking javascript and CSS in WordPress? Exactly!), you need to be there for her (I find myself planning life around the blog: no social life on Billions Sundays!) and she leaves you sleep-deprived at times (my all-nighter Billions Sundays are fast approaching!). But then your baby gives you priceless moments like her first smile or her first step and I am now ready to brag about a few of our priceless blog moments, too! 😀

One such moment came from a Facebook Q&A Brian Koppelman and David Levien did before Billions S1 Finale. I submitted my question early because I had to go teach during the live event. And I had to pinch myself as I watched the recorded event later that evening: Are they saying they read us and they salute us for the work we do? Yes, they are!

THANK YOU Mr Koppelman and Mr Levien for the shout out and for giving us one of the smartest and wittiest TV shows ever. We cannot wait to “dive deep” into Season 2! And here is the crazy story Mr Koppelman refers to in case you are intrigued 😀

And the most priceless moment came from Damian offering to make a “thank you” video for the blog! I am a calm person… well, generally. I was pretty relaxed when I interviewed Damian after Times Talks. But then I was about to faint as I filmed his shout out message. The words Damian used for our work made my knees go weak: “Involved.” “Intricate.” “Sophisticated.” “Makes fascinating reading.” “Keep doing it.” Is he talking about us? Yes, he is!

THANK YOU, Damian, for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for your trust in us, and above all, thank you for the inspiration! We will keep doing it! 😀

This blog has brought so much love and laughter into my life thanks to my brilliant blog sisters and our readers! And the guy who gives his name to our blog finding the work “amazing” is the most delicious cherry on the cake. As he once said “best journeys are shared.” It is a true privilege to share this journey with you. THANK YOU.

Lady Trader

Happy 2^nd Birthday FanFun!

First, I would like to say how much I appreciate all the hard work that everyone puts into this blog. We all have jobs, families, lives; but the thought, and level of commitment and dedication of everyone who is involved with this project is amazing. Damianista is a wonderful leader, and she constantly astounds me with her writing, her organization, and for her encouragement and support for all of us that contribute to FanFun.

Next, I would like to thank everyone who is a part of this “sisterhood”. We all bring different points of view to whatever it is we are writing about (Billions, Life, etc.), and it is great to be a part of a group where I feel like I learn something from my fellow bloggers all the time! You ladies rock!

I’ve only been a part of FanFun for a little over a year, but what a year it has been! Starting off the year watching and writing about “Billions” was so great. I was hooked on this show ten minutes in! Even though the characters were fictional, I felt like I knew everyone, since this is my world. It was a joy to be able to help explain some of the financial speak and some of the story lines to everyone reading the blog. And, in the Spring, writing my first blog post ever (“In Defense of Bobby Axelrod”) opened up something I didn’t know I could do – write!

We spent the summer re-watching “Life” and it just brought back my appreciation for this quirky show. Writing and reading our thoughts and opinions was a great way to see the show from a variety of different angles! Although we all seemed to come to the same conclusion regarding the end!

Then as if things couldn’t get any better, the year ended with me finally seeing Damian live at the Paley Center! Seeing him on stage with his fellow cast mates, and seeing his personality (which is so different from Axe) come through was such an experience! His humor, his ease about himself, his thoughtfulness when answering questions all just confirmed why he is one of the best actors out there!

In 2017 we have so much to look forward to: another season of Billions, Damian back on stage in London, Ocean’s 8, and all of the fan stories!

So Happy 2^nd Anniversary! Looks like year 3 is going to be GREAT!

Holliedazzle:

Hey, all!  Happy 2 year anniversary to one of the sweetest teams on the world wide web!  I have really enjoyed my time with the blog, and look forward to the future!

I came to the blog from being a fan of it.  One day, while killing time at work, I started googling Damian, searching for a fun background image to put on my work PC.  I stumbled across the blog, and it must have been within the first few months of its inception.  I remember the very first article I read was the one about Brody’s marriage to Jessica on Homeland.

It struck me as incredibly creative to be digging so deep for content, to think outside of the box as far as fan blog content goes.  I read a few more times, and then it kind of fell off my radar.  Months later, I found the blog again during my discovery of Tumblr.  I started to explore it a bit, and realized I could find lots of fun photos for my desktop backgrounds on it!  And there it was, again, that blog!  So I started following.  I started reading, regularly.  I jumped over to Facebook and found it there, as well.  I started commenting, and was pleased as punch to find that the writers interacted with those commenting.  I was hooked!  Then an overly-elaborate comment turned into a post idea, and I connected with Damianista via email.  The rest, as they say, is history!

On a more personal note, I want to take a moment to thank the ladies here, and all of our readers, and even the tall one himself, for providing such a fun past time! Not to bring everyone down, but I have to explain. I’ve suffered a great deal of health problems within the last couple years. I experience chronic pain daily, and it has taken away from me some of my most favorite ways of having fun and creating my art.  But in its place, I have had this writing.  I have had a way, as an artist, especially, to explore my study of Delsarte and share it with the world.  It has been an incredible journey, and an incredibly comforting and supportive way to share my thoughts with the world.  I really can’t express my gratitude enough for this blog.  Thank you to everyone and cheers to a happy, happy new year and future with the blog!

TBkWrm

Happy Birthday, Fan Fun!

I can’t quite believe the blog is now two years old! Has it really been that long since the wonderful Wolf Hall? That is what I was watching when I stumbled across Damianista on twitter, while marvelling at Damian. A man who can make the word ‘dumpling’ (bearing in mind the context in which he was using it) sound like a threat deserves credit…

I recall my Birthday message from last year in which I spoke about educating yourself and the importance of it. It seems a tad ironic since it is partly contributing to my lack of production on the blog at present. I hope to be more active than I have been over the last few months, not just to do my bit, but also because I miss interacting with the team so much. One of the great reasons to share this particular stage with the ladies of this blog is the pulling together and our detailed (and fun) discussions about absolutely everything and anything.

In the spirit of always questioning everything, I am very much looking forward to Jania Jania screen capping every white board that appears in episodes of Billions Season 2 and all of us dissecting every single word and coming up with all sorts of theories.

Having seen the trailer for season 2, it seems very promising in terms of what we are going to see from Damian. There is a hint that he is losing it slightly…but then again, we did learn not to really trust the trailers from Season 1, which were very well put together and never gave away as much as they seemed to.  Bring it on!

There is also Damian’s return to stage and Ocean’s 8 to look forward to and keep our attention.

I raise my new Axe Capital mug to the blog and to our readers. Happy New Year, everyone!

A trusted and loyal Axe Capital PM said

“Two is plenty”. 

Maybe for him, not for us! Onwards to 3!

JaniaJania

Boy, two years goes by fast! So much has happened both on the blog and in the world. And what a reprieve it has been to come here when the world seems so close to going so absolutely crazy. There’s a lot to be stressed about, there is a lot to be worried about, but one place where the stress and worry and fear fall away is this space right here.

Truth be told, if Damianista weren’t driving the production chain so diligently, this too would have been another project I dove into enthusiastically, with the best of intention, only to burn out and abandon. I don’t call myself the Dilettante Sagittarian for nothing. I fall in love really hard and fall right out just as completely. But, the love for this guy we write about and my fellow bloggers has miraculously endured. Thanks to them and to you, our readers. The fact that you guys read us is everything!

Even when he is not on our screens, when there is plenty of other stuff to think about and write about, Damian keeps cropping back into our conversations. There is a perpetual smorgasbord of food for thought as far as Damian Lewis and his projects is concerned. Just get a load of what he has in store for us this year alone! What a great place to be! So glad you can join us here!

Author: Damianista

Academic, Traveler, Blogger, Runner, Theatre Lover, Wine Snob, Part-time New Yorker, and Walking Damian Lewis Encyclopedia :D Procrastinated about a fan's diary on Damian Lewis for a while and the rest is history! View all posts by Damianista