I ended up spending so much time digging up nearly all of the information I could about the film and the parts of it that intrigued and moved me. So far, all of the best interviews with Tarantino come from film blogs and the Q&A sessions at showings in California and the Alamo Drafthouse, because the people asking the questions want to know more about the film than just asking about Brad Pitt and the Bear Jew like all the major publications have.

What I enjoyed about the acting was all of the subtlety and nuance (okay, so the Basterds themselves didn't quite have that); along with that, these characters are actually three-dimensional, not cliches. Tarantino wants the viewer to be able to see the film from different perspectives, which includes recognizing that Landa was a damn fine detective, and could even be likable. On my first viewing, I actually started to feel bad for him when he realized that Aldo wasn't sticking to the deal. But after that, I began feeling more and more resentment towards him for what he had done.

As Tarantino said, "With subtitles, strudel and everything how the fuck do you get the essence of this film across in a TV spot!"
The Japanese trailer is the best one I've seen that completely captures the essence of the film as best as a film trailer these days can: http://i-basterds.com/
Ultimately, it was seeing that brief glimpse of Shosanna covered in blood and sobbing that sold me, because if anything, I could at least see her story; I was more than pleasantly surprised to see that she was the main character.

The fandom is insane. I love Shosanna immensely and I nearly take it as a personal attack to see what Nazi-fetishists on the internet do to her. I should learn by now to not be surprised by what happens on the internet, but that will never happen.