Fandom Lounge's Journal

10:18AM - Amazon debuts "Kindle Worlds" where your fanfic can earn you cash

Sometimes a writer creates a universe so compelling that others feel the need to join and help flesh out that world with their own tribute fiction. And sometimes you make something crappy like Gossip Girl and loads of people want to write using those characters and that world anyway. Now Amazon is introducing a way to let writers profit from their fan fiction, via “Kindle Worlds.”

( The full text for the linkphobic )

Edit: John Scalzi has some instant thoughts on Kindle Worlds.

4:26PM

So, as I'm sure most of you has heard by now, Yahoo has acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion.

There's relatively little wank about it so far on my dashboard, but I hear there are a lot of mixed reactions. John Darnielle's post is one of the more sane and well-thought out.


Thoughts? Predictions? Betting pools, drinking games and popcorn?

Is it the 6A fiasco all over again? Are veterans of LJ coming out of the woodwork?

11:04AM - This again?

This BS again? COME ON. No. Just NO. Bad writer, no cookie. I can't even with this stuff anymore.

And I am one of the last hold-outs on the planet to not have a facebook* account so I can't sign in and tell the writer, but...

GUESS WHAT. Women like Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. They like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Dragonlance, Star Trek, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. They like The Elder Scrolls, Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Halo, and Gears of War. They like Stargate, and Doctor Who, and Firefly, and Farscape.

They also like NCIS and CSI and Castle and White Collar and The Walking Dead and Sex and the City and the Sopranos and American Idol and The Voice and Jeopardy and comic books and cooking and hockey and gymnastics and cats and dogs and...

Women just like STUFF. Okay? Women are half of the bloody population and they--WE--like a diverse range of interests and every now and then, because I do prefer Game of Thrones to Sex and the City, I feel like it's just this big hand-wavey "pfft, you DON'T EXIST".

Because seriously, if I don't exist, why do I have to pay taxes?

*I am honestly, truly, TRULY, getting really unhappy with all of these websites that only give you an option to sign in with your facebook account. My name on the internet is not "Real Name". It's ashinae. I know the internets aren't TRULY anonymous, but... I miss those days. Plus my real name is dumb.

2:38PM - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 5 hits west this fall as Dual Destinies

Ace Attorney 5 is scheduled to appear in North America and Europe this autumn, now under the new legal name of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies.

Capcom says it's releasing the 3DS game in the west digitally (on the eShop).

Edit: Capcom's SVP Christian Svensson explains:

“Sorry guys, but a physical release is not in the cards.

Historically it’s been tough to attract long term retail support for Ace Attorney titles. With the release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies we wanted as many people as possible to be able to enjoy the game for as long as possible. With that in mind we have opted for a digital-only release via the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

I understand that this decision may upset fans who wanted to have a physical version of the title to add to their collection but we believe this direction is the best to take.

We will be confirming details on the price point in the not-so-distant future which I hope will also shed more light on the strategy at play here.”

Check out the first English-language trailer at that link, too.

9:03PM - There should be a "your ass is draggin'" joke here.

The trailer for the film adaptation of Ender's Game has been released. Yes, a real film, from a studio! With actors! And a director, a script, and what looks like an impressive special effects budget. I was unaware of this, because OSC has long since departed the realm of relevancy, but after over a decade of development hell, Lionsgate has activated the ansible. Behold: Slate's review of the trailer, along with the clip itself. The film is set to hit theaters November 1st.

No major spoilers in the clip, but don't read the final paragraph (the third after the video) if all you want to know is the premise. The trailer shows most of the major characters, including Mazer Rackham, and teases combat (along with the uniforms), while the younger actors all have about ten years on their canon age (which either brings them closer to how you imagined them or is totally unacceptable) -- so prepare to have your version of how Battle School looked RUINED FOREVER. (Post-Inception, I'm sure at least one reviewer will call the combat scenes derivative, while all I saw while watching Inception was "THE ENEMY'S GATE IS DOWN.")

OSC is co-producing the movie, so if you'd prefer not to give the man your money, wait for it to arrive on Netflix or the equivalent. And, yes, this is the studio behind The Hunger Games and, post-acquistion, Twilight, which can mean only one thing: Ender vs. Sparklypoo.

3:23PM - "R.I.P. Ray Harryhausen"

Cross-posted to deathwatch .

Link, complete with a video compilation of the creatures and images he created.

I personally didn't see any of the films with which he was involved until my college years, but when I did, it was quite easy for me to fall in love with them, and to recognize his enormous contribution to the world of visual effects. My personal favorite has always been The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, followed by Mysterious Island.

1:35AM - Leonard Nimoy vs. Zachary Quinto

Old Spock vs. New Spock in the best car commercial ever.

It's worth it to sit through the whole thing.

( Read more... )

1:10PM - Two Star Trek sets being restored by fans

First, the Enterprise-D bridge set is being restored. Space.com has the story in Refurbished 'Star Trek' Bridge Aims To Beam To San Diego.

Calling all wannabe space captains: The starship Enterprise bridge from television's "Star Trek" may open to the public in the next year. After lying in a studio backyard for years, a display version of the bridge from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is slowly being refurbished by a group called New Starship.

Space.com has a video up on their YouTube channel.

Star Trek TNG Bridge Restoration Called For In Kickstarter Campaign | Video

The original Enterprise-D's bridge was blown up in Star Trek: Generations, but in the late 1990's a duplicate was made by Paramount. Its parts was taken off the scrap heap and there is hope to create it into an interactive experience.

Tested.com has more in an interview with Huddleston.

Restoring the Star Trek: The Next Generation Enterprise Bridge

We meet the organizers of the Enterprise-D restoration project and learn about their plans to reconstruct a complete starship bridge set from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Turns out, the pieces of this bridge were just left out to waste away in the Paramount Studio lot for years before being discovered and salvaged.

Find out more about the project at: http://www.newstarship.com

Space.com also posted about an attempt to reconstruct the Galileo shuttlecraft from The Original Series.

Original 'Star Trek' Galileo Shuttlecraft Restored by Loving Fans

NEW YORK — Two "Star Trek" fans are boldly attempting what many have tried (and failed) to do before: breathing new life into a beloved TV shuttlecraft.

Space.com also has a video up on their YouTube channel.

Original Star Trek Galileo Spacecraft - Where Is It Today? | Video

The TV prop builder, Gene Winfield, 'beams' back to the time of construction to recount the backstory of the ship. It is currently being restored, more info about the project can be found at www.galileorestoration.com.

I have more, including embeds of all three videos, up at Crazy Eddie's Motie News as Rescuing the Star Trek past.

4:05PM - Let's Get Academic

A friend of mine is giving a talk Saturday on Mary Sues; in preparing, she's trying to determine the extent to which very popular fandoms focus on female characters. She's gone through AO3's top list (all the big ones are slash-focused), but she's lost with several of the big FFN fandoms (she can't figure out from FFN's available information what the most prominent relationships are.

The fandoms are Naruto, Inuyasha, and Glee. She wants to know, are these very young-skewing fandoms, and are they mostly slash or het?

(I'm pretty confident Glee is slash, but want to get an experienced viewpoint first...)

7:34PM - Bad news, everyone.

Futurama to end seven season run on September 4th.

Comedy Central has decided not to renew Futurama, which means that the 31st-century-set animated comedy will end its 140-episode run on Sept. 4. The final 13 episodes, which represent the second half of season 7, begin airing on June 19 at 10 p.m.

...The news did not come as a shock to executive producer David X. Cohen and creator Matt Groening, who had thought their space explorations were ending three previous times (after the Fox run, after the four movies, and after Comedy Central’s first 26-episode order). “I felt like we were already in the bonus round on these last couple of seasons, so I can’t say I was devastated by the news,” Cohen tells EW. “It was what I had expected two years earlier. At this point I keep a suitcase by my office door so I can be cancelled at a moment’s notice.”

Comedy Central’s EVP of Programming Dave Bernath views the network’s decision as “the natural end” to the show’s improbable comeback. “That’s a helluva run that few shows achieve, and especially given the fact that it came back to life, it’s really an amazing story,” he says. “I’m more thankful and feel a sense of gratitude toward the whole process — and that we found a way to keep going for 52 more episodes — than I really am even thinking about the ending. It’s a blessing that it came back and lasted so long.”

The producers say that they are exploring options for a new home for the show, but there are no serious talks at this point. “We’ve been in this situation before and it’s tempting when you’re doing episodes that are as good or better than anything you’ve ever done to continue doing it,” Groening tells EW. “We’re catching our breath and seeing what the fans have to say. The experience of this show has been so much fun from the very beginning to now — everybody is so happy to work on this show — that it’d be a shame if we all went our separate ways… We would love to continue. We have many more stories to tell. But if we don’t, this is a really great way to go out… I think these episodes are the best ones we’ve ever done.”

...Somehow we’ll see Bender shout “Bite My Shiny, Revived Metal Ass!” down the road, right? “Perhaps Futurama will return in another form, on the Internet, or as a puppet show in the park,” says Groening. “Or maybe as a puppet show in the park on the Internet.” Deadpans Cohen: “As I said three times before, this is definitely the absolute end of the show. I don’t know why nobody believes me when I say that.”

11:34AM - Earthbound coming to Virtual Console... on the Wii U

The cult classic Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound is coming to the Virtual Console on the Wii U in North America and Europe.

Launched in Japan as Mother 2, a North American release seemed unlikely due to rumoured licencing issues, but it would appear that Nintendo has overcome those problems.

The game was already released on Japan's Wii U Virtual Console for 30 cents as part of a special promotion. North America got Ballon Fight.

11:34AM - Greatest TV Romance Contest by EW

The finalists are... Rose and the Doctor, and Kurt/Blaine from Glee.

There's still time to vote, though Klaine's currently winning. Aaand you can vote more than once. (Something they're wanking mildly about in the comments; barely enough for a mention, and no way to check their ages, so no reports.)

3:37AM - Unico update

Unico has been released and is available at Akadot Retail and at Amazon later in the month.

1:16AM - City of Bones Trailer

This is the newest trailer for Cassandra Clare's City of Bones coming out this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHlwRsl2uFk

Interesting to see someone who used to be in fandom get her own movie. Anyone else in fandom ever become successful?

9:24AM

To coincide with the upcoming second The Hobbit movie, ThinkGeek is now offering a glorious Eye of Sauron desk lamp.

( And some more exciting new products... )

3:11PM - :(

Richard Griffith (Uncle Vernon from the Potter series, among many, many other roles) died today at age 65 after complication following heart surgery.

RIP Mr. Griffith.

7:39PM - Filk fans, looky!

A sample from Julia Eklar's upcoming album Horsetamer

http://prometheus-music.com/audio/Going%20Back.mp3

8:07PM - Veronica Mars Movie

'Veronica Mars' Movie Reaches $2 Million Goal!

I didn't actually watch this show, but I didn't see this news in any of the communities I follow here. As far as I can tell from the article, fans financed a low-budget Veronica Mars movie through Kickstarter. (Warner Brothers agreed to finance the marketing and distribution.)

I wonder if this will become a trend among fans mourning their favorite shows...

8:10AM - Apollo Justice is back for Ace Attorney 5

The hero of Ace Attorney 4 will make a return for the game’s 3DS sequel (though Phoenix Wright will return to star in the game), according to these scans from the latest issue of Famitsu.

There are minor spoilers for Apollo's appearance in the game and the opening case at the link in case you're trying to avoid things like that.

9:12AM - "Fifty Shades of Grey" author EL James publishing writing how-to guide

The author of "Fifty Shades of Grey," the fastest-selling book of all time, is publishing a writing guide for aspiring authors. E.L. James and Vintage Books are releasing "Fifty Shades of Grey: Inner Goddess (A Journal)."

It's a leather journal that includes writing and professional advice from James, along with lined pages for writers to employ her strategies with their own ideas. It will also include a foreword from James, excerpts from "Fifty Shades of Grey," and even her own personal writing playlist.

"As E L James traveled and met with her readers, there was a great curiosity about how she got started writing," says Vintage publisher Anne Messitte. "Her personal story as a writer is inspirational to many women, and journaling has been an important part of her creative process from the start."

"Fifty Shades of Grey: Inner Goddess (A Journal)" will be available on May 1.