About a year and a half back I posted the tale of a mooch named Allan. He's a guy best known now in the furry community for being hopelessly addicted to buying commissions of his character, seemingly having nearly every artist on FA On his AIM/MSN lists as countless folks have reported him contacting them for art. This all wouldn't be so bad if he didn't owe thousands of dollars to people for past work, and if he wasn't unemployed. The post was about him seemingly hitting rock bottom, being kicked out of the hotel he'd been staying at for two months in New York City and begging on the internet for help. How about an update?

Well, plenty has happened since that post. He's still very much banned from FurAffinity in spite of manys attempts to both circumvent the ban with new accounts or harrassing the head admin of the site to unban him. In journals (now deleted) on his Deviantart account he has claimed that said head admin, Dragoneer, has 'ruined his life' by banning him. Some journals with him complaining about the ban and trolls still exist, however.

Shortly after the hotel incident, Allan attempted to join the army, but was discharged for health reasons. He now lives with his mother and hasn't had any form of job since. He lives on unemployment and food stamps, but still reguarly buys and contacts many artists to buy commissions.

Fast forward to a month ago, Dragoneer himself posts a journal about a recent incident where Allan offered to donate $500 to FA in hopes of getting back in his good graces. It is also of interest to note that Dragoneer has coded the site so that attempts to see Allan's FA page results in a picture of a llama.

Shortly after Allan makes two DA journal entries where he admits to having a problem with buying commissions. In the second journal he reveals that a friend who is more eloquent wrote the entries for him, but that he honestly wants to change. Something he's claimed fairly often over the months.

This week it has been revealed that he's going to Anthrocon, the biggest furry convention in the US. Saying many people aren't happy with this would be an understatement. There have (ETA: WARNING for some mostly unrelated but very unfunny racewank in the comments) been multiple journals made
calling for him to be banned from the convention, people claiming he's going to get beat up, and people thinking everyone is being totally unfair to him.

In the interest of full disclosure: I am one of the many artists he has tried to talk to on AIM. I am not in any of the posts linked to, but I do have personal experience with the guy.

ETA: Er... sorry for the unfunny, guys. Looking it over now I have no idea what I was thinking. I'm really sorry.

First attempt at posting, although I've been barracking from the sidelines for about a millennium now ...

astolat posts A Matter Of Inconvenience, which is American Idol slashfic (Kris/Adam) with a 'Regency' setting. At least, that's the general idea, and harmless enough you would have thought - assuming that AI AU RPS is your thing. (Alphabet soup!)

zvi, however, takes exception. Amongst other objections, A Matter of Inconvenience is not about race, thoughtlessly invokes colonial issues, and just doesn't put up any warning flags for those who are about to read it. Also, apparently, this is a thing Astolat fucked up. Everybody, please to endeavor not to fuck up like that with your next happy fun sexytimes historical.

What starts off as moderately polite discussion about historicity in slash fanfiction is, however, quickly derailed by willow who offers the following reasoned evaluation: In the middle of the cuppa tea, the empire waist dresses and the ass-sex of your AU Regency - please to be remembering the hydra heads of colonialism and imperialism and what that means for and about your whitey white penis salt lick fan thought of the moment.

liviapenn tries to calm things down a bit with some entertaining stuff about plumbers and blow jobs but this only serves to upset willow further. Why is it that everytime I see you lately, you're happily shoving your foot into your mouth via your hindquarters? ... You keep claiming to understand your privilege and say you're reflecting on it and then you start chomping that feces encrusted shoe leather again. willow's User Info states "'M brown and I have an attitude." No kidding.

astolat's attempt to explain herself gets stomped on, and the desirability of historical accuracy in a Kris/Adam Regency alternate universe is lathered, rinsed and repeated for those who missed it the first time.

Small, but strangely vitriolic given the subject matter. It's difficult to imagine why people are getting quite so over-excited about one piece of costumed fluff in a universe of lesbian cars and tentacle porn, but it may keep us entertained while we're waiting for next incarnation of VB.

ETA: Okay, I get the message, I got it wrong - or maybe I just don't have a sense of humour? Either way, it was obviously a bad call. Lesson learned.

It all starts with what people are already calling LJ Genderfail: the newest beta version of LJ added a mandatory "gender" field to the sign-up process and eliminated the "unspecified" option (LJ quickly responded that the mandatoryness and binaryness of the new question were an accidental bug, and that the code was not going to go live. Of course, not everyone believes them about the "unintentional" part).

Well-known SGA BNF, former lj staffmember and co-founder of Dreamwidth Synecdochic made a call-to-action post that included the line,

It's been a while since I've been furious with anything LJ has done; having DW has done a lot to calm down my knee-jerk "AUUUGH NO" whenever Moscow does something stupid again.

A few people, some Russian and some not, are offended by this, and object. Synecdochic apologizes and edits the post after a request for clarification, but that is not enough to stop Ivorygates from making her side look bad.

Furiosity (who identifies as Russian) had objected to dismissing an entire culture because you're mad at some of its representatives, and Ivorygates takes the opportunity to school her. In her own cultural history. Because, you know, Russians don't understand freedom: it's not in their culture! America's special history of free speech can't be truly respected by them! (At this point Synecdochic freezes the thread.)

But Ivorygates isn't done! Bell had commented to Synecdochic that saying "Moscow" made a decision wasn't the same as saying "San Francisco" did because "Moscow, in US rhetoric, is that creepy place with commies and weird politics and gangsters". Ivorygates PMs her about this claim,

Are you actually -- are you actually seriously -- suggesting that identifying as a Russian national -- online, where you are safe from physical attack and can maintain anonymity -- presents you with duress identical to the harassment and persecution that transsexual and genderqueer individuals experience not only on-line, but in every facet of their lives?

Furiosity also posts to ask people to apologize instead of getting defensive when informed that they have offended "someone's race/culture/language/sexual orientation/gender identity/whatever". In her post meddie_flow comes to Synecdochic's defense with the ever popular Bingo square of "She didn't mean anything by it" with a side-order of "don't turn everything into a lynch-mob". Being offended by russophobia is also likened to being offended by the color red, and I'm honestly not sure if the irony there was intentional or not...

Lambda Literary Foundation: We're changing our submission criteria. From now on our GLBT literary award will only be given to self-identified GLBT authors.

( This does not go over well. )

( Spoilers for Torchwood and oh god great linky madness within. Enter at your own risk. )

This post brought to you by the ridiculously helpful mousies on wank_report, the letter W and the number 4. (The W is for wut and 4 is how many cups of coffee I've already had today).

Well, if you're looking for some real crazy, look no further than digimon!.

Overlord_Mordax wants to know why people like Ken. Or as one user puts it, why people like her. Mom jokes are taken seriously. Anonymous gets involved.

Mordax BAWS on her own journal.


***brought to my attention by a lovely mouse on wank_report

Guess what today is, you guys! That's right! It's Except NOT! ( A quick review. )

And would you look at the calendar? It's... June 2nd. There have been no posts tagged "lady sybilla" or "russet noon" at Foforks since the interview came out April 5th... what happened to the exclusive Brazilian premeire of Russet Noon chapter one? Well, apparently June 1st didn't quite work out, for whatever reason. Naturally, it's time for a new press release (already Caito-cloned here):

Russet Noon: Chapter 1 Will Be Released in English, Portuguese and Spanish

AV Paranormal will be releasing the first chapter of the novel Russet Noon in three different languages: English, Portuguese and Spanish. Chapter 1 is out this Tuesday, June 2 at midnight (Pacific) at russet-noon.com and foforks.com.br/

My personal favorite tidbits:

AV Paranormal is seriously considering the possibility of delaying the publication of the book until November to coincide with the theater release of the movie sequel to Twilight, New Moon.

and

AV Paranormal is also planning a contest for readers to win free tickets to see the movie sequel to Twilight, New Moon.

Because if there's anything this fanfic needs, it's more publicity stunts. More ETAs to come, I'm sure: the sharks, eager as ever to chomp, are just waiting for Sybsy to dip her toes in the pool fall into the deep end.

ETA: Chapter 1 is out. I have no idea whether the prose is as bad as the formatting, but at the end of 21 pages (um, book pages, not web pages), there is this little note:

Would you like to express your opinion about this chapter? AV Paranormal is very interested in receiving your feedback and suggestions. We welcome any type of criticism, either positive or negative. Email us your reactions and we will publish them here. Please be advised that hate emails with insults will not be published. There are diplomatic and polite ways to express your opinion, even if it's negative, so please keep your emails civilized.

Well, if you don't have anything nice to say, come and sit by me.

ETA: Sybsy supposedly has a PR guy now, whom she thanks by name on Twitter and is also listed as a contact at this version of the last press release.

ETA: This is Lady Sybilla's new favorite thing. Basically some dude on the internet thinks copyright is bunk. Too bad exhorting others to relinquish copyright doesn't actually change copyright laws. She probably found it by googling herself, because someone named Sheila brings up Russet Noon in the comments.

Oh, but if it means that she's relinquishing her own copyright, that means you can probably take Russet Noon and repost it anywhere, like your own journal or lol_meme or GAFF or wherever. You wouldn't even have to stick a spork in it. You could also probably save it all in one file and make it available for download. (I'm not saying you should, I'm just saying you could, and she couldn't make a copyright claim to anyone's host server.) Not that her copyright was ever really hers to begin with, but yeah.

There is also a Russet Noon blog with a huge banner made from Stephanie Lostimolo's work. Theft begets theft!

Meanwhile, Gilloughly at Absolute Write has a huge hate-on for Sybsy, to the point where I think he's showing up in my journal to tattletale. (If that's not Gilloughly, it's someone who seems to copy and paste off his forum posts, because it sounds just like him.)

There is also now a Russet Noon MST on twitter.

Speaking of Twitter, Sybsy's been pretty funny lately:

#The sharks at absolutewrite are desperately trying to shut me down, but there's always fanfiction.net if they succeed

#they wrote to Little, Brown and got ignored, so now they're trying to take matters into their own hands

#it's humbling to see how my work inspires such a strong passion in people

#hate and love are just opposite poles of the same emotion

#fame and infamy are, indeed, one and the same</i></i>

Bet Gilloughly would like to hit her with that pole, yo.

So who's been wondering what's been going on with Lady Sybilla and the Russet Doom Saga? I know I haven't! But here we are regardless.

First there was this May 5 message to FanHistory editor Tikatu on her talk page:

Hi, Tikatu. I noticed you've been the most frequent editor of the Russet Noon article, so I'm sending you an update on the "Blood Roses" image by Charli Siebert. I just received an email from her, informing me that she does not want me to use her image for the cover of the book.

Charli wrote to Sybilla: "Unfortunately, I do not give out permission for use of my work in any way, so you'll have to find another cover for your book."

Charli also added, "All of your advertising and marketing of the book containing the image will need to be removed from any and all publications. This includes all print advertising and websites that display the image. If there are websites that you are aware of that are displaying the book cover in question, it is your responsibility to contact them and inform them that they need to remove the image from their site."

Based on Charli's specific request, I am asking that you please remove the old Russet Noon cover currently on display in the article. And, if it's not too much to ask, please add a note to the article to confirm that Russet Noon will have a new cover image before it gets published. Please let me know if you need me to upload a screencap of Charli's email as proof.

Last part of the update is that Charli and I are in negotiations to have her create a new image exclusively for the new Russet Noon cover.

Thanks very much.

Artistic revolution 07:45, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

Consider also this newly-added apology on the Russet Noon website:

On behalf of AV Paranormal and Russet Noon, we'd like to offer our sincerest apologies to Charli Siebert, the creator of "Blood Roses," the above image. We had used this image for the cover of Russet Noon under the mistaken assumption that it was a royalty-free image. Even though this image will no longer be on the cover of Russet Noon, we are extremely proud to announce that Charli Siebert is in negotiations with Lady Sybilla to design an image exclusively for the cover of Russet Noon. We look forward to revealing the new cover of the novel. Please click on "Blood Roses" to visit Charli Siebert's official site, Unimaginative.org.

As for Wikipedia, it looks like Potato Moon's page is pretty safe from deletion for the moment. The article currently identifies Russet Noon by name, with the explanation, "Stephenie Meyer uses the word "russet" numerous times throughout the Twilight Saga to describe the color of Jacob Black's skin." You will never guess who edited the article to include that superfluous information. The change occurred after this conversational exchange:


Oh, and how is old PAD's circle jerk parody novel coming er, going? Well, it's up to, like, Part 20, but I haven't read it past the first chapter so I can't tell you whether it's any good.

And now, for funsies! Sybsy's now been namedropped in the Small Name Big Ego article on TVTropes.

Aaaaaand we now have the QUEEN of this trope for Twilight fandom: Lady Sybilla, whom no one had apparently ever even heard of before in the fandom before she became the writer (and attempted publisher) of "tribute sequel" Russet Noon, and convinced the entire internet is made up of one person with a grudge against her after the fandom at large and fandom_wank told her that her understanding of copyright was... flawed at best. She was banned from The Other Wiki after refusing to believe that her "highly controversial" unreleased fanfic wasn't notable enough and continually reinstated its article. Try to read the Russet Doom Saga in all its glory and not boggle.

And for a little added lubrication? Lady Sybilla Apologizes to Stephenie Meyer for Writing Russet Noon. Why yes, that IS another press release, fresh just today! I c&ped it here in case you don't want to contribute to her page views (and she'll probably take it down again as soon as she has another change of universal mind anyway). She's also updated her Twitter for the first time since April as well.

I just returned from a nine-day trip, so I'm playing a bit of catch-up with my supplementary links list and link hub/screencap guide; I appreciate your patience. And you know what else I appreciate? When I got home this morning, you will never guess what I found waiting for me in my mail box. Except that you totally will.

It was lip gloss.

ETA: So I clicked a link back to the Russet Noon site, and found myself in a time warp. It seems Sybilla's reverted to her original format after so long. But before you start thinking she just fuxxored the files, check out the links at the top. She links to: her own Twitter, Comic Mix, Google News, Foforks, Wordpress, her own Myspace, IMDB, Wikipedia, the Wall Street Journal, Twilight Blips, FanHistory, Fanpop, the Small Name Big Ego TvTropes article, Amazon forums, the reupload of her reading the preface on tinypic, Buzznet, ONTD, Fandom Wank, the Twilight Lexicon, and Edward Heart Bella.

Screencaps forthcoming here (thanks ari_o).

Also we may have missed another in-between site version. Did anyone catch a screencap?) You can view the last edit to the Russet Noon site before this latest revamp here, where she had added the "temporary model" for Russet Noon's new cover art.

Below is a temporary model of the new Russet Noon cover image that Charli will be recreating. The copyright information for the artist of this talisman is currently unknown. Hopefully the efficient fandomwankers will help us track down the artist who originally created this talisman so we can give them credit. This is just a sample image of what the final design will look like.

She wants us to do her homework for her. Great.

ETA 2: I'm reasonably certain the Russet_noon twitterer is taking the piss. I quite like the blend of Snacky's and Godwin's Law lobbed our way.

ETA 3: FanHistory has given Lady Sybilla a space to speak her point of view. It's... uhmazing.

ETA 4: She took out her link to the Twilight Lexicon and added a new one to this article from RelateMag.com, which spells the title of the book Russet Moon. Still, I prefer this version of the RelateMag article:

There’s a ‘new’ Twilight words that is dated people to charge alarming waves across the the public. Sure you’ve irrefutably impute to a fraction of fanfiction stories that takes the Twilight psycho we fondness and puts them in bizarre scenes, rewrites parts of the books, adds scenes prospect to be missing. The words is all fustian up to Jacob and what happens after Breaking Dawn. But Lady Sybilla has written an uninjured words entitled Russet Moon and she’s flourishing to advertise it. Some people improvise it is flourishing to be smashing addict fiction. Others imagine it is unconditionally miscarry. To affect the dip on the words button the website.

It's like it went through Babel Fish and crawled back out again, weeping bitterly about its lost messages and implications.

In Part III, we saw what happened when Lady Sybilla tried to tangle with the Twilight Lexicon mods for the last time (they banned her), and watched in awe as Wikipedia users worked "around the clock" to get her Russet Noon article deleted. You can still find "The Wikipedia Wars" linked on the Russet Noon website, but you'll have to scroll down past...

The FanHistory Wars.A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

Artistic revolution (who, for reasons which will become blatantly obvious, is a suspected sockpuppet of Lady Sybilla) edited the shit out of the Russet Noon fanhistory page. Artistic revolution has a pretty one-track mind, it would appear. Or two-track, if you count Lady Sybilla as a separate topic.

In the midst of all those edits, there was no shortage of information about me, Sybilla's own favorite "stalkarazzo." (I know I'm her favorite, she says so herself on the Russet Noon website.) The following information is culled from the Revision as of 00:27, 21 April 2009 version of the page.

Although Caito posted the email text on one of her many Journalfen pages, her only acknowledgment of Sybilla's concerns was: "I'm totally over this email business. I have a spam filter and I intend to use it. If someone wants to continue discussing this shiz, she can do so in the comments like everybody else." Strange reaction given that Caito's Whois record for her site openly discloses her gmail address:

At this point, Artistic revolution somehow thought it was appropriate to include my mailing address and contact information. Yes, in the middle of the article for Russet Noon. But that's not all! She did go on. I bolded my favorite parts!

More recently, Caito provided us with a video example of how the attention-whoring for which she mocks Sybilla is more contagious than a disease. Ironically, while she spends her valuable time making fun of the ''Russet Noon'' author for trying to exploit Stephenie Meyer's popularity, Caito, too, seems to be riding the wave of the ''Russet Noon'' obsession. And she does so quite gracefully. If it weren't for Caito, ''Russet Noon'' would have never achieved taboo status.

... On April 3, 2009, LadySybilla emailed Caito and asked her to stop her "online stalking activities." On this email, Sybilla warned, "If you don't, I will notify as many administrators as I have to until they take action." Sybilla then contacted the Journalfen technical support team to ask how she could contact an administrator in order to report libelous accusations posted by some of their users. But, instead of responding to Sybilla's concerns, the JournalFen support team (if, in fact, there is one) forwarded a copy of the email to Caito. This incident may or may not prompt internet users to wonder about the legitimacy of Journalfen. Is Journalfen an actual company? If it is, who are the tech support staff and/or administrators behind it?

... Judging by the look of things, it won't be Sybilla who will be profiting off of ''Russet Noon'' sales after all. Let's see what happens when Caito and her BFFs at Twilight Lexicon get their hands on a copy of the novel in September.

All that has since been nuked from the actual FanHistory page, and replaced with more evenhanded material. People here at FW went a little flaily for a bit, as a software snafu made it appear as though FH mod Sidewinder had been the one to add my personal info when she'd really just meant to take it down.*

Then the mods brought the hurt down on Artistic revolution, who has been banned from editing the wiki for two whole weeks! She's really sorry, though, guys. Please stop throwing stones at her, and let her catapult boulders at others in peace.

But it's not like Artistic revolution has been the only one tooling with it, either. Some anons got in and tweaked it ever so slightly, like changing the story summary simply to "OH JOHN RINGO NO!" Editing the Russet Noon article is temporarily locked to admins, due to anon vandalizing and a neutrality dispute.

Personal notes:

1. I do not know what end anyone would hope to achieve by posting my address.
2. I'm not BFFs or even BFs or even just Fs with the TwiLex mods, but I sure do like them more than I like Lady Sybilla.
3. I have no clue how I would stand to profit from anything having to do with Russet Noon.
4. I have no idea who Lee Thomas even is.

*Aside to FanHistory folks: Thanks. I really appreciate what you did. Do me one more solid? I did respond to Lady Sybilla's concerns about my "accusations", but I guess it got lost in the epic wave of comments. Like I said before, Lady Sybilla is welcome to come engage me in comments, but as far as I know she has yet to do so. Muchos gracias.

ETA: Artistic revolution rides forth on teal deer to appeal to Laura's professionalism.

ETA 2: Laura responds!

ETA 3: The Russet Noon website is now basically a hate shrine dedicated to me and FH mod Sidewinder, complete with Photoshopped screencaps of me interacting with people I've never actually interacted with. Oh, and also my contact information.

You know, I'm starting to get the feeling that she doesn't take criticism very well.

ETA 4: From Artistic revolution's usertalk page:

I'm not interested in antagonizing you. You have been objective, but I still have to insist that Sidewinder, whoever she is, hasn't been. She might not have the same IP address as Caito, but her editing patterns are dubious. I have listed the evidence on my website because I'm blocked from doing so here. If I'm not allowed to edit the article, then at least Sidewinder should also be prevented from tampering with it any further.

All in all, as I said before, I'm not interested in antagonizing you. Based on your reasons for why Wikipedia blacklisted FH, I know you can understand how I feel in regards to Russet Noon. I have seen that your procedures reflect professionalism. This is why I appealed to that.

I sincerely apologized to both you and Tikatu, but never received a reply. At least at Wikipedia they lifted the ban. Sure, they deleted the article, but they were reasonable enough to lift the ban. I'm sorry if the procedure I followed to try to negotiate with you guys was not what you expected.

I would much rather have you delete the Russet Noon article altogether than to continue with this conflict. Once again, it is not my intention to antagonize you.

So, yeah, Artistic revolution is almost certainly Lady Sybilla.

ETA 5: The hate shrine is now down from the Russet Noon site. It's been replaced with a paragraph about how "the wars have ceased" and the rest is now ostensibly about the fanfic again.

ETA 4-24 7:22am Tokyo time: In case anyone was wondering how Lady Sybilla was taking the news about Peter David's community parody-in-progress, here's the reaction from her twitter:

# it's an honor even though it's a satire, because Peter David is a very seasoned writer
4 minutes ago from web

# many fanfic writers of the net will be uniting to write Potato Moon. The creator is comic book author Peter David
4 minutes ago from web

# let's hope this communal novel will inspire many more to come. I'd love to see a serious thriller or drama like this
7 minutes ago from web

# communal novels are a new genre, there are not many of them that I know of. I'm very curious to read Potato Moon.
8 minutes ago from web

# I'm very proud to announce that Russet Noon has inspired a very unique parody, Potato Moon. It's a communal novel
8 minutes ago from web

The Russet Noon website has also changed. It no longer makes mention of any "wars" whatsoever.

ETA 7: "You are invited to read our latest press release, "Lady Sybilla: The Darth Vader of Fandom."* It appears that Russet Noon has already achieved taboo status without having even been released yet. That's what happens when a Darth Vader figure like Lady Sybilla is created. And now she's found a worthy opponent: Peter David."

*That link goes to a c&p in my journal. To view the original (and give LS more hits) click here.

ETA 8: Her tweeting continues, c&ped here.

ETA 9: The first part of Potato Moon is up... I have a FanHistory page now, and actually I kind of like it, especially the graphic and its caption... and yes, my little lolcats, you can has more ONTD.

ETA 10: She just updated the Russet Noon site again (screencapped here), linking to the articles that appeared on Comicmix and IMDB. (Except her IMDB link actually goes here, where you have to scroll down halfway down the page the relevant blurb.)

ETA 11: Peter David's Potato Moon has its own Wikipedia page! It is a thing of true beauty and you will never, ever guess who started it. But to avoid the situation that occurred the last time she wrote articles on Wikipedia, she's asked another user to edit the Potato Moon article for her. And he is (adding links to the Potato Moon blog entries, at least)! He just wants to know more about who AV Paranormal is. This should go well, I think.

ETA 12: She's linked to something on the Wall Street Journal site now. What the lemonfresh hell?

I come bearing fresh Supernatural wank, because I'm sure none of you are tired of it by now.

A little background: The most recent episode, entitled "The Monster at the End of This Book", was pretty much "A Very Meta Supernatural". It involved ( Spoilers, and lots of juicy crazy follow herein )

( Wherein some fans hate the show like they've never hated a show before )

Oh fair and forgiving denizens of fandom wank, it has come time for us to choose a new champion. Or a new mod, at least. You may have noticed us fading away, like beautiful unicorns. But no more!

Before you are the tasks three that must be completed for consideration:

1. You must locate a truly funny wank. It may be in our archives.
2. A golden apple. You may be creative.
3. Ten disney icons (edit: This can also be Pixar). Sep wants disney icons.

Those that complete this task will be brought before the oracle of Phosfate to hear their fate!




There will be prizes for participation, although they are best described as 'crappy'. Oh, and the mod prize.

AND WE'RE DONE. PRIZES IN NEXT POST

Watchmen screenwriter David Hayter writes a sincere but slightly tongue-in-cheek open letter on Hardcore Nerdity to Watchmen fans and non-fans, to urge them to see the movie more than once in order to understand it.

One of his other points is that he thinks those who hate the movie on principle without having seen it should let it marinate in their minds and give it a chance:

It may upset you. And it probably will upset you.

And all along, we really meant it to. ...All this time, you’ve been waiting for a director who was going to hit you in the face with this story. To just crack you in the jaw, and then bend you over the pool table with this story. With its utterly raw view of the darkest sides of human nature, expressed through its masks of action and beauty and twisted good intentions... Like the Comedian on the Grassy Knoll. ...You'll be thinking about this film, down the road. It'll nag at you. How it was rough and beautiful. How it went where it wanted to go, and you just hung on. How it was thoughtful and hateful and bleak and hilarious. And for Jackie Earle Haley.

Trust me. You'll come back, eventually. Just like Sally.

Comments begin in the 'we love Watchmen (although some of us have reservations about the swinging massive blue dong), go Dayter' mould, until people, from page three onwards, suddenly notice the metaphor he used to describe how the movie should make you feel:

DUDE. No one asks to be cracked in the jaw and bent over the goddamned pool table. Was there NO OTHER ANALOGY you could have used? Do you realize that you're comparing your movie to a rapist and the moviegoers to victims asking for it? And what is this "You'll come back. Just like Sally" crap? Do you have any f***ing idea how offensive that is? Could you not have come up with some other analogy, some other pithy tag, something that doesn't make it out like the Comedian was doing Silk Spectre a f***ing favor when he beat her bloody and tried to rape her?

Did you mean to do that?? If not, erm, consider your words more carefully next time you do the "open letter" thing, because wow, did that part get away from you.

Dayter comments on page 7 with an apology claiming he does not condone violence against women, which is edited into the original article. People briefly thank him for apologising, and then attack him again. Dayter responds graciously via huge spoonfuls of sarcasm and retracting his apology (page 8):

Clearly, you can't get less hateful or spewy than that. I humbly retract the statement.

Anyway, I'm sorry you disliked the film.

And you're right, I don't know why I ever set out to do this in the first place. It's really the world I'm hurting. Damn my family, and their almost-constant need for food!

On top of all of this there's huge amounts of movie rage, but the best thing about the whole altercation is the people at Hardcore Nerdity going so far as to make a video response urging people to LEAVE DAYTER ALONE, starring a very angry Dr. Manhattan.

I found this recipe in the other wank and thought you guys might enjoy it:

You will need
1 greased ohnotheydidnt
1 ship-based MS Paint macro (Do not credit the macro! This is very important!)
3 cups inksplotched
1/2 teaspoon grudge (optional)
2 heaping tablespoons bazcat89
a pinch of CAPSLOCK
sparkles to taste

1. In a large bowl, add inksplotched to the macro in 1/2-cup increments, beating on high speed until stiff peaks form.

2. In another bowl, combine grudge, bazcat89, and CAPSLOCK and stir until mixed thoroughly.

3. Fold grudge-bazcat89-CAPSLOCK mixture into macro-inksplotched meringue.

4. Spread over ohnotheydidnt and top with sparkles.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 3 days until edges are crusty.

6. Serve with your favorite alcoholic beverage and a large sprig of mockery.

*You may store Twilight Sparkle Surprise in your freezer up to 3 months.
**CAUTION: if you share your thoughts on fandom near Twilight Sparkle Surprise, it will turn out bitter and inedible and all the hungry wankas will eat you instead!

Dearest, beloved, Fandom Wank.

I know you were looking forward to great excitement today. Some of you said words to me that indicated you anticipated fiery 'judgement' upon those who remained fresh and dewey white, those you call n00bs.

Anyway, you got today instead.

Stop anticipating things, we'll just break your hearts.

Sincerely,

Sepia P. Magpie, Esq.



PS: Use this post to reflect on how you could be better people. Or just fuck around in the comments.

I haven't caught it yet, but I'm hearing that the Lexicon case is already on Fox News every half hour. A couple of things I held on to over the weekend:

The latest documents on Justia.

'Potter' author seeks to block fan book. "In court Friday, Hammer said Rowling's lawyers did not want Vander Ark in the courtroom while Rowling testifies."

More later. Watch This Page for update alerts.

ETA: ( MOAR )

Latest:

ETA 9: New at Leaky Cauldron: First Day of JKR/WB vs RDR Books Trial, at which Leaky staffer(s?) were in attendance and able to take notes. There are some really interesting points in Rowling's testimony, but I'll only quote from the Rapoport notes since we haven't seen much from his:( Read more... )

This one has been brewing a little while (well, a little over ten days) and I finally realised no one else was going to post it.

XKCD is a popular webcomic. One day, this webcomic is posted discussing the relative merits of fruit and the title "fuck grapefruit."

Needless to say, fans of grapefruit are insulted. Not only that, but banana fans want to know why their fruit was unfavourably rated in the "ease of eating" department. Some of them must be tongue-in-cheek, but it's difficult to pick them out of the genuine morass of hurt, confusion and anger. Well, mainly anger.

The blog post.

Mini meta wank.

SGA fandom is race wanking - yes, again. This time it started with a review Cesperanza wrote about last week's SGA episode, "Midway," aka the Teal'c and Ronon duke it out ep.  Ces says:

"this ep is going in the waste bin, because, I'm sorry, I am TOTALLY UNAMUSED by the Ronon/Teal'c fight. I think its humiliating, and treats the characters like animals, and I'm horrified at the betting, like it's--what--a cockfight? And to me it's racialized and repulsive: I was typing to Linabean: REPULSED REPULSED REPULSED and that about covers it. I'm absolutely repulsed. I don't care if it's supposed to be a showdown like Batman vs. Superman or the Hulk vs. Thing or whatever--fact is, you had two black men beating the shit out of each other and drawing the largest crowd we've ever seen on Atlantis thus far. And like, this thing of "Ronon and Teal'c have so much in common"--they DO NOT. THEY REALLY DO NOT. They are two men with darker skin than the rest of the cast, but Teal'c is overwhelmingly gentlemanly, and they were portraying Ronon like a beast, though he totally is NOT a beast, and just--WHAT THE FUCK, SGA, SERIOUSLY."

People come by, agree and discuss.  Some DON'T (and LiviaPenn gets involved).

Then, ZZanthalinn stops by to say that Jason Momoa is Polynesian, not black, hence Ronon is too? HERE. More of Momoa is Hawaiian thread.

However, Anonymous is just "pissed off" about the fight after reading Cesperanza's review.





 

As an offshoot of the Lexicon wank, it appears Melissa wank has arrived.

As part of her "impartial" coverage of the lawsuit, Melissa Anelli of TLC apparently felt it necessary to qualify Steve Vander Ark's (signed under oath) statement that the advertising on the Lexicon "covers the cost of running the site" by reminding people that "The Leaky Cauldron houses and runs the Harry Potter Lexicon for zero charge, and has since it came under its current domain name. That is true as of this posting." However, on Feb 11 she admits to denying a request for the transfer of hosting.

This prompts SVA to release more detail than anyone wanted to know about the finances of the Lexicon. Quote: "If there was any income to me, it wasn't much, especially by comparison to the income other websites have earned." The "other website" he specifically mentions is MuggleNet, whose owner claims a "six-figure income" from the site. SVA doesn't mention TLC, but Melissa goes crazy.

A bit of digging reveals that TLC's finances have been discussed before over on I was a Leaky Lounge Mod. In May 2007, a mouse says: "I know for a fact that Melissa used Leaky money to buy herself a new laptop." In September 2007, Gina raised suspicions about who paid for Melissa's New York apartment ("the web provides a TON of information about purchase prices of condos which are pretty darn high to not have jobs *koff koff*") Over Sep/Oct 2007 the subject was raised again, and another mouse said:

"To take Melissa as the main example, as has been pointed out she lives in New York. That place is very expensive, not just real estate but the cost of living as well. She is in no way living off the advance on her book because let's face it, even if all her fangirls and boys buy it it's not going to be a huge best seller. The time has been and gone for that. She has left her full time job and therefore she must be taking at least a 5-6 figure salary from Leaky. If she is doing this and has deliberately registered it in a way that doesn't mean full disclosure, then that is appalling."

The matter was pretty much put to rest until Melissa forced SVA's hand. Ex-staff are pissed. Highlights:

There will continue to be no transparency about Leaky income. They've claimed for far too long that they make no money. I can only say that I actually know this to be total BS. I'd love to tell you my proof, alas I'm not able. Steve threw some stones but Melissa opened a door that, IMHO, that now begs the question of well, so, what DOES Leaky earn then?

and:

Since Melissa is bringing up money herself, she really should answer. If she is going to criticize Steve for trying to make this a full time job that she should be above that same criticism.

Arianhrod marches over to Leaky Lounge with this:

But since it doesn't appear that anyone else is going to ask the logical question, I will.

Just how much does Leaky make from all of this--in profit? Is this considered a hobby by the IRS, or is it a major source (or even sole source) of income?

And before anyone questions my audacity, Melissa has laid it out on the line and brought the subject of hosting and ad revenue costs into the open. It's no longer a private matter--the whole world now knows about it and as such this is a valid question, especially if TLC has been or gets dragged into this lawsuit.

I don't expect an answer--I do expect to get ripped to shreds, and that's fine. But at least I'm not afraid to ask.

Melissa ignores the question. Arianhrod calls her on it ("With all due respect, Melissa, that is avoiding the issue.") Melissa gets defensive.

Itty-bitty wank, but still brain-eatin' good.

The zombie survival comm is usually a place where members discuss their favorite B movies, wage epic battles over whether or not 28 Days Later was a zombie movie, and dream of the day that society breaks down under onslaughts of the undead and survivors develop superhuman headshot powers (also ninjas)

And then there are people like nocturnalblue, who takes it seriously.

Mocking occurs.

I'm leaving and I hope the zombies EAT you!

Mmmm, zombie-chow.