Misery loves company

OSC: Tolerate My Intolerance OMG!

Tue, 09 Jul 2013 11:17:59 GMT

"Orson Scott Card Wants Your 'Tolerance' for His Anti-Gay Views."

ETA: On a similar note, here's a column from ThinkProgress: "An Ethical Guide to Consuming Content Created by Awful People Like Orson Scott Card."

"Peter Jackson and others weigh in on Hollywood's F/X crisis"

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:44:40 GMT

Following up on the sidefail mentioned in the comm's previous post, a more comprehensive look at the state of the visual effects industry:

Visual effects artists routinely work miracles onscreen, helping Hollywood generate billions of dollars every year at the box office. Still, the VFX industry is now in a state of crisis. In the past seven months, two leading F/X houses, Digital Domain and Rhythm & Hues, have gone into bankruptcy, and several other companies have had to lay off workers. “Right now it’s near rock bottom,” says Peter Oberdorfer, a former VFX artist who now runs a digital-technology consulting firm. “The pressure is building to a point where it could get volatile for everybody involved.”

In this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly, The Hobbit director Peter Jackson, a digital effects pioneer who co-founded the F/X company Weta Digital, says studios are taking advantage of an oversupply of F/X houses to drive down prices. “Competition between VFX houses, which the studios obviously use to their advantage, has resulted in VFX houses operating on tiny profit margins,” Jackson says. “And when we talk ‘profit,’ it’s not about the owners buying a Porsche at the end of a big movie — it’s about having a nest egg to ride out the slow periods.”

Another significant factor: frustrating communication breakdowns between filmmakers and VFX artists that can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars of wasted work. Roland Emmerich, the director of Independence Day and the upcoming White House Down, acknowledges this is an all-too-common problem. “In the last two or three months [of a production] you have to finish hundreds of shots. You’re so overworked and stressed, it’s hard sometimes to look at everything. I always try to manage that a little better, but there’s always the human factor that could fail.”

Even after the collapse of Digital Domain and Rhythm & Hues, Jackson doesn’t believe that studios truly understand the need for F/X companies to charge sustainable prices. “Studios have to answer to their shareholders and will always try to get the cheapest possible work,” he says. “If anything, it’s a wake-up call to the F/X companies to address the weakness in our industry.” But with VFX layoffs announced regularly now — and more houses expected to shut down — one high-ranking studio exec acknowledges that the studios need to be a part of the solution: “We as a studio need these companies to be thriving and innovating — that’s our bread and butter. I guarantee you, there’s no one who defends the current visual-effects business model. It’s been brutal.”

Oscars Unfunny

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 08:19:51 GMT

Double header! I may engage in some hyperbole in the following paraphrases, but I've also had like, five cups of coffee. Please bear with me.

First Unfunny: Seth MacFarlane.

Second Unfunny: Onion makes joke that not only falls flat, but takes out several bystanders and kills a kitten on the way down. The premise was, they called nine year old Oscar nominee Quvenzhane Wallis a cunt. The joke was that no one would ever say such a thing about her. Except, in fact, people were saying that shit about her, and say that shit to little nine year old black girls all the time*. Link is Laura Hudson's explanation and commentary on the matter.

The Onion has apologized (that's the tumblr apology, I'm not linking to the facebook one because the comments hurt my soul even more), which moves us to phase 2 of the problem, where there are now people in the comments and elsewhere shaming the Onion for apologizing for insulting a nine year old girl.

Here's one where because his friends are dicks to each other, it's okay to dehumanize a nine year old girl. Other arguments include the assumption that all jokes are sacred, comedians never fuck up, and somehow it's a personal affront when someone else apologizes for hurting someone. Also humour is dead forever because they apologized. No links to those ones, those are in the comments and you can't make me go in there to paste.

You can't.

Speaking of comments, even positive posts about Quvenzhane were filled with nastiness in the comments.

Also for some reason some people think a nine year old girl should not have had a purse shaped like a dog.

I'm going to repeat nine year old girl some more.

Sidefail: The visual effects community sees red in the wake of Oscar protest and on-air snub. They didn't pay a VFX house, people are out of work, and when a guy tried to talk about it at the Oscars they cut the mic.

*Do not take my emphasis on the youth of Quvenzhane Wallis to in any way mean I consider that appropriate to call anyone of any age. I just feel so bad for her. People wouldn't call her by her name in the interviews, MacFarlane made a sex joke about her, and etc, etc, etc.

Yuletide TMI (Or: How Bipagan Ruined Christmas)

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:03:22 GMT

[Many thanks to a certain charitable mouse on wank_report, who I have plagiarized immensely.]

For people who don't know, Yuletide is a large fandom exchange for rare fandoms. Every year there's a nomination and review period to determine what fandoms are eligible, and participants can request and offer to write fics for eligible fandoms.

People are also allowed to write "optional details" in their sign-ups, letting their assigned writers know what they would like to read in each of their requested fandoms. Even though optional details are very much optional, writers generally try to give their recipients what they want, and recipients generally try to make it easy for their writer by being open to a variety of options. Sometimes people write letters to their writers expanding on those optional details, and post those letters to the main comm for everyone to read.

Which brings us to this letter. bipagan is not at all interested in making things easier for her writer. The letter begins with many paragraphs about extremely personal, seemingly irrelevant, and kinda offensive stuff about her life.

Did you know post-partum depression will kick your ass worse than normal depression because you suddenly remember every little slight that ever happened to you let alone the major life issues? Yeah, it sucks. I advise against it.

I am pretty sure that is how normal depression works too. Slogging all the way to the bottom gets to bipagan's actual request: a crossover between her rare fandom Blue Bloods and huge, ineligible fandom Supernatural. (Please note that this is the vampire novel series Blue Bloods and not the television show about New York cops. Making the mistake I did will leave you very confused.)

What the hell does all this shit have to do with Blue Bloods? Well, I use to find joy in paranormal romance but you will see that I only have one listed and it is extremely specific. I want that cross over. I’ve wanted that cross over for a very long time. Ever since I picked up my first Blue Bloods book I couldn’t help but think, “What the hell are the Winchesters doing right now? Does Castiel know about all this?” If you can’t write a cros over, please do not write a Blue Bloods fic. Go read one of the blogs. They are really quick reads and I promise you won’t regret it.

If the writer isn't interested in fighting through an absolutely massive canon to suit her whims, bipagan tells them to write a fic for one of her other fandoms instead, even though: 1) They might not be familiar with her other fandoms, 2) They might not be interested in her other fandoms, 3) Even if they were interested, they might not feel capable of writing for it, and most importantly, 4) They signed up to write Blue Bloods fic.

Discussion ensues on the yuletide anon meme.

Back at bipagan's house, people point out that requesting a crossover and nothing else might be unfair to a writer who is assigned to write her a Blue Bloods fic. She responds by publishing the IP addresses of anonymous commentators and then deleting all the comments. Luckily, someone took screencaps, including the unedited version of the letter and references to her suicidal impulses.

She then leaves a comment on the yuletide comm about how mean people are to her.

I've blocked commentary because I was being wanked on my own journal. I have quite enough hardship in life without being put down by strangers. As my husband said after I cried, "People on the internet are assholes. You put yourself out there and they kick you down. You could always do what I do and just not put yourself out there.

I thought it was required that I post my Dear Yuletide letter here so that my writer would be able to find the letter. I know I've had trouble finding a Dear Yuletide letter. I know better for next year. I'll just post at my journal and hope they find it.

fail_fandomanon talks amongst itself. bipagan grudgingly edits the letter, giving us the version seen up top, but it's a little late...the potential writer has already pulled out. One can hardly blame them.

TL;DR: Yuletide requester gives TMI on her life while making absurd requests of her writer and veiled suicide references, then gets defensive when people politely protest.

I Know Nothing About This Subject But My Opinion Is More Valid Than Those Who Do

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 16:01:48 GMT

Massive trigger warning for rape. Proceed with caution.

Thank you to the anon on wank_report for this one.

To minimise the number of hits this author gets, I’ve placed all the wanky and gross comments in a Google document. (I would have included them in the post but it's long enough as it is.)

Moranion puts the following author’s note at the end of her Sherlock fic:

I do hope I haven't unintentionally insulted anyone's feelings here. I haven't been raped myself, so my thoughts on the matter are purely theoretical. I think that current psychiatry deals with psychical consequences of rape in an entirely wrong way, mostly because it treats rape as a bigger deal than it actually is, and yes, I am very much aware that rape is a horrifying thing to happen to anyone. That doesn't change the fact that I think (mostly) women are almost conditioned to be psychically traumatized by being raped. An example: a woman is raped and is psychically traumatized by it because she spent her whole life being informed that rape is a psychically traumatizing experience. All that said, I'm convinced that the whole shebang of therapy is a black hole precisely because it treats people who were raped as victims while telling them that they aren't victims. To conclude, from my amateurish viewpoint it would be a lot more beneficial if rape was treated as something that, yes, is horrible and disgusting and terrifying, but after you're healed and the rapist is arrested, you're a changed person, obviously, but you're still you. That being said, EVERYBODY REACTS DIFFERENTLY, so I'M NOT GENERALIZING ANYTHING HERE.

Feel free to bite my head off now.

People proceed to bite her head off. Moranion belittles responses from rape victims and is generally cruel, dismissive and deliberately obtuse. A sample below:

Loren: Okay, as someone who has been raped, I'm offended by the fact that you would try to make a statement on something you know nothing about. You don't know how violating it was, how terrifying. It was literally the worst thing that could have ever happened to me. Worse than being physically abused all of my life by my peers, while my family did nothing. Worse than growing up with literally no friends. I was invited to a slumber party once. It was a wrong address on the card. It was worse than the self harm, the eating disorder, and the times I was hospitalized for attempted suicide.
I'm trying really hard not to attack you verbally, or written, rather, but it's difficult to restrain myself. I'd never wish a rape upon anyone, but I wish that you knew exactly what it felt like so that you could eat your words.

I'm disgusted with myself for liking this story, simply for the fact that I'm disgusted with your opinion. It's not something that you have to just heal physically from. And my rapist, by the way, was never caught. I was roofied, and can't remember his face. The few people I told in my real life told me that I must have invited it somehow, and that it was probably my fault.

You're exactly like them.
So you know what? I'm done being kind.
Fuck you. I hope you learn how wrong you are, you inconsiderate, privileged asshole.
And you know what else? I'm itsbetterinenochian on tumblr if you have the balls to try and back up your moronic opinion some more.

Moranion: Wow, that's quite a lot to take in. I don't have a tumblr, so you'll have to bear with me here.

1. Thank you for liking the story. I pity you if you tend to be disgusted with yourself for liking the things you think you shouldn't like.
2. I don't remember asking for kindness, so you really shouldn't have bothered.
3. Not being raped myself doesn't mean that I don't know anything about it. However, it does mean that you're an ignorant fool, the sort of person who thinks that a virgin by default doesn't know anything about sex. Sometimes, theoretical knowledge is all that we can get our hands on, because guess what? It's not actually possible to experience anything that's there to be experienced. But perhaps, some nonexistent deity will hear your kind wishes and I will learn, first hand, how very wrong I am. Perhaps, though, I'll learn first hand how very right I am. I bet that would get your blood up some more.
4. Are you actually calling me privileged for not being raped (yet)? I weep for womankind everywhere. If you think that I'm privileged, you probably also think that you deserved to be raped, which is ... disturbing, to put it mildly. And because I'm done being kind, too: IT'S A 50-50 CHANCE, YOU FOOL.
5. What else? Oh, yes. Inconsiderate and with a moronic opinion. I'm very, very sorry for what happened to you. That doesn't change the fact that I still believe that therapists who treat raped people like they're damaged goods aren't exactly helping them. Treating a victim like a victim is, surprisingly enough, illogical in my opinion, not to mention severely disrespectful. I think that actually makes me more considerate. I'm not a psychologist and I don't have the knowledge to work out a better way of helping rape survivors, but a blind idiot can see that the current system ISN'T WORKING.
6. I'm not only one who thinks that way. I remember another survivor of the rape expressing her approval over my opinion on the kinkmeme, when this story was posted for the first time, see the comments on part 9: http://sherlockbbc-fic.livejournal.com/7277.html?thread=35982445#t35982445
That would be all, I believe.

Anyone else wants to join in on the discussion?

Other people do want to join in on the discussion. Moranion gets butthurt and makes the following edits:

EDIT: After being more or less declared a bitch by some commenters because of this author's note, I'm pressed to repeat: I really hope I haven't offended anyone. It's certainly not my goal to appear insensitive or ignorant or in any way flippant about rape trauma. I did feel I had to explain my depiction of rape in the story, so the note stays. I strongly urge you to read what I've written about the same subject in the comments before you decide to declare me a bitch yourself.

EDIT NO. 2: Well, I'll consider 'moron' an improvement. I should probably point out that my opinion was formed upon the state of rape therapy in my country, which is, I see, emphatically not the same everywhere. Also, I'm repeating again: I feel that society, law and a majority of our surroundings treats rape survivors as damaged goods, which they very much are NOT. This is not me calling rape survivors weak for needing therapy, this is me telling the society to shut up. Now, your knowledge of rape therapy and the general attitude towards rape may differ from mine, so please consider this before throwing insults at me.

EDIT NO. 3: I am grateful to each and every one of you who have left a comment here, and yes, that means all of you without exceptions. I learned more in two days than I usually do in a month at university. I strongly urge any new readers to take some time to read through the comments. Believe me, it's worth it.

The worst of the comments are in the Google doc, but this thread wins for sheer audacity, fuckwittery and Godwin's Law:

Eldritchhorrors:

1) You have said that you've never been raped nor have any academic knowledge of rape.
2) You have made blanket statements about current rape therapy being ineffectual and giving the victim no sense of agency.
Which of these is correct? How do you know what rape therapy consists of? How much have you studied it? Because what I know about modern rape therapy involves making the woman feel like less of a victim. Yes, it is your opinion, but an opinion with absolutely no fact to back it up is useless. If you were citing particular forms of therapy and could reason out why they were ineffective I would take you more seriously. But just stating that the therapies don't work when for all I know your source is one episode of Law and Order SVU...

Moranion: While I don't see how am I obliged to explain myself to you while you're calling me a moron on your tumblr, let me put it like this:

1. I haven't ever read a medical textbook on rape if that's what you're asking. I do, however, know the basics of its psychological implications. The objectivization, the domination, the violation of what most of us holds as the most sacred - our right to decide what happens with our bodies.
2. A month or two before I wrote this fic (and I wrote it more than a year and a half ago, if you've read my notes), I watched a lengthy documentary on rape survivors in my country. Just for a start, only five percent of registered rape survivors in my country are men, emphasis on registered. Women who survived rape and spoke about their experience with rape therapy provided by the national healthcare were mainly - to put it mildly - unhappy with it. Healthcare provides one to two sessions a month. Therapists are expensive, and most women have no means to afford weekly sessions. Many spoke about being treated by their therapists like 'just another hysterical rapee' (I'm translating a slur here), damaged goods, like invalids; like people who were expected to have nervous breakdowns and try committing suicide around the clock. The one lone male survivor who appeared with blurred face and electronically changed voice spoke about being downright shamed by his therapist for not crying after his rape; the man told the therapist that he hasn't cried once in his life and that he certainly doesn't see a point in giving his rapist the satisfaction. The therapist refused to treat him again.
Needless to say, it pissed me off. And that was perhaps my mistake here - in assuming that rape therapy is the same everywhere. As comments here show, some people who were raped agree with me and some don't. I'm certainly not an authority on the matter and I never claimed that I was.
3. You wrote in your post on your tumblr that I don't consider PTSD as a diagnosis. I do, actually. My point still stands.

Merry: You watched a documentary, and you somehow think that gives you more information than actual SURVIVORS of rape, so much so that you can talk over them and call them Nazis?
You honestly disgust me.

Moranion:

It gave me some very specific information, and as I've pointed out, that information tends to differ from country to country. I've pointed that out before, which means that I have to tell you to go learn how to read again.
(And yes, I'm going to call Nazi every single person who somehow thinks that their opinion is a priori worth more than mine or that I should just tape my mouth shut and never write a word again in fear of ever offending anyone, may they be a rape survivor or the goddamn president of the country.)

There are some rape survivors who do agree with her author's note but Moranion doesn’t dismiss their experiences at all. Gosh, I wonder why?

Weird Racist Tales

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 00:40:37 GMT

Weird Tales, a fantasy/horror pulp magazine with a distinguished pedigree, has recently run into some trouble. Last week Marvin Kaye, who bought the magazine last year and fired the Hugo-award-winning staff decided to have the magazine publish the first chapter of Victoria Foyt's novel Save the Pearls.

If your face is currently in your palm, you probably already know why this was a bad idea.

From Amazon:
Eden Newman must mate before her 18th birthday in six months or she'll be left outside to die in a burning world. But who will pick up her mate-option when she's cursed with white skin and a tragically low mate-rate of 15%? In a post-apocalyptic, totalitarian, underground world where class and beauty are defined by resistance to an overheated environment, Eden's coloring brands her as a member of the lowest class, a weak and ugly Pearl. If only she can mate with a dark-skinned Coal from the ruling class, she'll be safe. Just maybe one Coal sees the Real Eden and will be her salvation. But when Eden unwittingly compromises her father's secret biological experiment, she finds herself in the eye of a storm and thrown into the last area of rainforest, a strange and dangerous land. Eden must fight to save her father, who may be humanity's last hope, while standing up to a powerful beast-man she believes is her enemy, despite her overwhelming attraction. Eden must change to survive but only if she can redefine her ideas of beauty and of love, along with a little help from her "adopted aunt" Emily Dickinson.

If this seems a little problematic to you, let me assure you that the actual book is far, far worse. In addition, Foyt's promotional works for the book have involved YouTube videos of white women in blackface and the author talking about how colorblind she is. Oh, and fake reviews. Understandably there's been controversy and most of Foyt's recent internet presence has been devoted to either fighting claims that her book might be a teensy bit racist or frantically deleting negative comments from her book's Facebook page.

When Kaye decided to publish the first chapter of Save the Pearls, he also put up a small defense of the book. It was later deleted, but nothing ever truly dies on the internet.

I have been an anthologist and magazine editor for most of my life, and as of last year became copublisher and editor of Weird Tales, America’s oldest fantasy magazine. In the upcoming issue, we are publishing the first chapter of Victoria Foyt’s SF novel, Saving the Pearls: Revealing Eden (the subtitle after the colon is an indication that the story will continue in a subsequent novel).

Weird Tales seldom prints SF, but this story is a compelling view of a world that didn’t listen to the warnings of ecologists, and a world that has developed a reverse racism: blacks dominating and detesting not just whites, but latinos and albinos, the few that still survive of the latter are hunted down and slaughtered.

It is the same literary technique employed in the off-Broadway musical a few years back, Zanna, Don’t!, set in a world where homosexuality is the norm, and a pair of heterosexual lovers are therefore socially condemned.

Racism is an atrocity, and that is the backbone of this book. That is very clear to anyone with an appreciation for irony who reads it.

I have noted the counterarguments that some Amazon readers have launched against the book and its author, and while I strongly disagree, this is America and they have the right to express their opinion(s).

But I also have been told that they have not stopped there, but also have attacked Amazon readers who describe the book in positive terms. I do not know if this is true, but if it is, it is mean-spirited, espcially if they have not read the entire book before condemning it, a charge that has also been leveled against some of them. Again, I do not know if this is true, or an exaggeration, but if these actions have, in fact, been performed, than I wish those who have done so a blessing and a curse.

The blessing is to wish they acquire sufficient wit, wisdom and depth of literary analysis to understand what they read, and also the compassion not to attack others merely because they hold a different opinion.

The curse is an integral part of the blessing…for if they do acquire those virtues, they will then necessarily look at their own behaviour, and be thoroughly ashamed.

On Monday, the publisher woke up and realized what had just happened.

I would like to tell our community that Weird Tales will NOT be running an excerpt from Victoria Foyt’s novel in our upcoming issue.

Marvin Kaye is our editor and has full control over fiction published in the magazine and website, and he agrees with me on this.

Marvin was approached by Victoria Foyt, and was asked to review her novel. He was told that she was being slammed online by people who had not read it.

I have not read the novel, but have gone over its online presence today. I have no need to read it. I saw the blackface video and read the excerpts the author and publisher chose to make available. I must conclude that the use of the powerful symbols of white people forced to wear blackface to escape the sun, white women lusting after black “beast men,” the “pearls” and “coals,” etc., is goddamned ridiculous and offensive. It seems like the work of someone who does not understand the power of what she is playing with.

Marvin says if you read the whole book, she explains her use of this imagery, and it ends up as a plea for tolerance. I say, so what. And that is the position of Weird Tales — and upon reviewing the video and other materials, Marvin is in full agreement.

I deeply apologize to all who were offended by our association with this book. I am offended by it. I fully respect those who have been writing negative things about us today. You are correct.

I have removed Marvin’s endorsement because he no longer stands by it. Marvin is traveling and will make his own statement shortly.

And by traveling I assume he means he's hiding in his closet until everyone forgets this ever happened.

Ann VanderMeer, previous senior editor who stayed on after the magazine was sold to Kaye, announced her resignation almost immediately. Her husband gives us a little more context on the clusterfuck.

But ever since a meeting with Kaye and Harlacher in New York in June, it had become obvious that she would be extremely uncomfortable working with them. Although they did not consult with her on editorial decisions, they did mention during that encounter that they planned to publish an excerpt from a YA novel written by the wife of a film director about “the last white person on the planet trying to survive in a world of black people.” This seemed deeply problematic on the face of it, and Ann was kind—perhaps too kind—but adamant and firm in saying that they shouldn’t do this. Ever. During this meal, a startling lack of understanding about international fiction and other subjects was also evinced, to the point that afterwards both Ann and I wished we had not stayed for the entire meal.

So this was in the works for several months and no one stepped in to say that this could conceivably be somewhat of a bad idea. N.K. Jemisin gives us more context, and laments the magazine's decline.

It’s more than the fact that the editor has chosen to introduce the revamped magazine with a diatribe against evil anti-racists, or evil people with no sense of irony, or something. It’s more than the stunningly poor judgment that he displays by hitching his magazine’s new applecart to this spavined old horse. It’s also the fact that they’re going to be publishing the first chapter of this hugely problematic book in Weird Tales. What the hell is that about? In all the furor over this book, no one is defending it as high-quality literature. It’s not even “weird”, in either the old-school pulp sense or the VanderMeer-era modern sense; it’s a slushpile-stock discrimiflip with implausible science and banal writing. This is a book whose author self-published it — perhaps because the publisher of her previous novel saw what a mess it was — and then promoted it via self-reviews on HuffPo and a bunch of vanity awards. Now I’m wondering whether she paid WT to publish this excerpt. Maybe she even bought Kaye’s editorial. Or maybe I’m overthinking this. Maybe Kaye just thought it was a great idea to start his new regime with a bang. Any publicity is good publicity, right? Right?

How much does a good reputation sell for, I wonder? Hope Kaye got a good price.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE: Kaye apparently is responding to people canceling their subscriptions over this issue. And not well, either. In addition this appears to be the same Kaye who reprinted Orson Scott Card's novella Hamlet's Father. So it seems he's got a history of not having the social sensitivity God gave a goat.

Moral of the wank: If you want to publish Lovecraftian stories, that's not the aspect of his work you want your submissions to be imitating.

FBI declares ICP and Juggalos a gang; ICP sues

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 03:07:17 GMT

I present to you some unfunny about a fandom that does unfunny things in a funny way--Juggalos. It seems that the fans of Insane Clown Posse have become decidedly unfunny to law enforcement and the FBI has made some Foolish Ballistic Insinuations as a consequence.

Last fall, the FBI included Juggalos in their National Gang Assessment for 2011 (PDF). On pages 22 and 23, the FBI lists them under "non-traditional gangs," calling them "a loosely-organized hybrid gang." Some of the criminal activities carried out by ICP fans appear in this section, along with a photo of a Juggalo with a gun that the FBI took from the ATF (trigger warning for descriptions of violence and the photo).

At first, the inclusion of Juggalos in the FBI's list was mocked by Spencer Ackerman at Wired, who observed "The FBI has recently had difficulty distinguishing ordinary American Muslims from terrorists; now it appears it has a similar problem distinguishing teenage fads from criminal conspiracies." As recently as Thursday, the Village Voice posted that people thought the FBI report was an example of "another example of a federal agency looking foolish for its cultural ineptitude." That was until the U.S. Marshal Service issued a press release listing the fugitives added to New Mexico's Most Wanted.

Mark Anthony Carslon A.K.A. Mark Carlton is wanted on two felony warrants for failing to comply with the terms of probation both on underlying armed robbery cases. Carlson is a member of the Insane Clown Posse “Juggalo” gang. The “Juggalos” were recently classified as a gang by the Albuquerque Police Department Gang unit and it is believed that Carlson is still actively committing armed robberies in the Albuquerque Metro area.

Bolding from The Village Voice, who also reproduced Carlson's wanted poster, which listed his criminal affiliation as "Insane Clown Posse 'Juggalo'."

This declaration has caused the band and its fans all kinds of grief, as outlined in Vice (NSFW--what do you expect from a magazine called "Vice"?). If nothing else, Juggalos can be sentenced as gang members instead of ordinary criminals and the band's merchandise is no longer being sold at Hot Topic and other stores, who won't touch "gang apparel."

On Friday, ICP announced that they had had enough. The Village Voice reported:

Insane Clown Posse announced at the annual Gathering of the Juggalos "seminar," a veritable State of the Juggalo Union address given to "the heartbeat of the entire Juggalo world," that they were planning to sue the FBI in response.

The article also contains the text of the band's press release.

ICP and their label Psychopathic Records also launched a website, Juggalos Fight Back soliciting their fans for information about any legal troubles they may have suffered as a result of their fandom. Qualifying applicants will receive legal assistance provided by Psychopathic Records' law firm.

Stay tuned for the fallout from this unfunny.

Crossposted to Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

Your one-stop shopping for trolling and bullying disguise as social justice!

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 23:43:54 GMT

Blatantly cut and pasted from wank_report. Hat tips to the mice.

Requires Only That You Hate (http://requireshate.wordpress.com/) - Requires Hate for short - is a Thai Chinese lesbian blogger who has been ripping various sexist and racist science fiction/fantasy books apart in her online reviews. She's also better known as winterfox.

About 10 days ago, in one of her posts, Requires Hate posted a link to another person's review of the Inspector Chen books written by Liz Williams: http://requireshate.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/more-links/ (top paragraph).

Liz Williams - mevennen on livejournal - clearly dd not appreciate this. When Catherynne Valente posted about the sexual harassment at Readercon, mevennen's response was to ask whether she feels the same way about Requires Hate as she does about Rene Walling:
http://catvalente.livejournal.com/678836.html?thread=21468596#t21468596

"I don't think ANY of this is acceptable. I don't care whether it's puppy-eyed, I'm-sowwy leching American men, or wannabe sociopathic Chinese women."

Posting in the thread was not enough for Williams, however - she went on to write a long and ranty LJ post calling Requires Hate an "an aspiring fantasy serial killer" and announcing that "in the unlikely event that she is a potential psychonerd like the guy in Aurora, I’ve passed her details on to the relevant authorities and they can act if they see fit. Hey, if I’m going to be accused of being an Evil British Imperialist Whore [Tm] whatever I do, I might as well make the most of it": http://mevennen.livejournal.com/889924.html (comments now screened)

Valente posted a response:

"I believe that people should be able to voice their opinions, even if I disagree with them. Even if I agree sometimes and other times think that in a quest to answer injustice and be heard, they step over the line into cruelty."
http://catvalente.livejournal.com/679023.html

There's some humor in the comments, particularly in the threads involving Nick Mamatas (nihilistic_kid), who is also very outspoken about his likes and dislikes and who listed Requires Hate as an example of a "superior sort of reader" recently: http://nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com/1777161.html

In Caitlin R. Kiernan's journal:
http://greygirlbeast.livejournal.com/900453.html?thread=13564261#t13564261

Important background: a previous discussion in Valente's journal and follow-up twitter exchange with Requires Hate which led Kari Sperring (la_marquise_de_) to attempt suicide:

http://catvalente.livejournal.com/677154.html?thread=21396770#t21396770

https://twitter.com/KariSperring/status/206049221864980481
https://twitter.com/KariSperring/status/206048663041089539
https://twitter.com/KariSperring/status/206048219225006080
https://twitter.com/KariSperring/status/206047696480505858
https://twitter.com/KariSperring/status/206046672311156736

Nick Mamatas's comment on this today - "Apparently, Twitter makes people suicidal."
http://nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com/1781261.html?thread=27024397#t27024397

An annoyed friend of Mevennen and previous fan of Cat Valente posted to denounce Winterfox. It's a bit tl;dr but makes many good points. He cites FFA and quotes Cat's infamous line, "I, too, can, have, and will again write a book which communicates the Japan I can make up in my head - it's far better than the real thing."

http://tyrell.livejournal.com/847819.html

Meanwhile, Cat Valente continues bawwwwing on LJ and Twitter, sadly with a great deal of support from fans, friends, and minions.

http://catvalente.livejournal.com/679023.html

Some more info here: http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/38277.html?thread=172264837#t172264837 Including links to Winterfox's infamous death and torture threats/wishes to other people.

Stalking jackassery! The cure for bullying

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:02:18 GMT

Hello, everyone.

There's a site called Goodreads which is a bit like a library, a book review service, and fountain of wank.

This particular sordid tale starts out like promising wank, until the instigators fall off the deep end of wanky into the depths of the pool of 'you are all horrible assholes'.

Summary: Getting a bad review on Goodreads is like being bullied, so the solution these poor beleagured bullying victims come up with is simple: Stalk and terrorize anyone who leaves them a bad review under the guise of 'stopping bullying'.

Here's the links:

Summary of the situation as well as the history which is much more indepth and accurate than what I just said.

Link collection

One of the 'Anti-Bullies' bullying victims. As a reminder, this is all triggered by giving a book a bad review.

QUOTE:This week, shortly after writing a status update about feeling stalked, I received a call. A woman said, "We can find you, bitch" and then hung up.

Excellent response from one of the targets (see the first link) where she reveals her part pirate heritage and great parenting tips.

Anyway, so that's what's happening in professional publishing this week.

I'm sorry if this loses coherency in parts, I haven't eaten for twelve hours and there's a carpet of slippery comicbooks between me and the fridge. I have to clean, organize, and write down issues before I can eat.

This will be my last known post.

Kickstarter Project vs Gamers, or: Why don't you think about the MEN?!

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 05:30:25 GMT

Tropes vs Women in Video Games is a project by a single woman to look at and analyze several tropes and stereotypes in gaming that concerns female characters. Sounds like a reasonable project, right?

Apparently, the internet doesn't seem to agree.

This goes as well as you think.

Major trigger warnings for each link. Don't wade through comments, as usual.

Casting Wank: "Game of Thrones" Style

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:18:34 GMT

hippoiathanatoi aka Linda Antonsson is the co-owner of westeros.org, the largest fansite for the fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. She was briefly involved in the "Fanfiction is like kidnapping my kids" wank, though her entries about the matter seem to have been deleted from both her LiveJournal and her tumblr.

Since then hippoiathanatoi has let it be known that she is not at all happy with Game of Thrones, the HBO adaptation of the ASOIAF books. There's the potrayal of Cersei Lannister, for one. But most of all, she's upset about the casting of Lucian Msamati and Nonso Anozie as Salladhor Saan and Xaro Xhoan Daxos. True, she doesn't like Lena Heady, Kate Dickie, Natalie Dormer or Oona Chaplin much either, but Msamati and Anozie really set her off.

Xaro, in the books, is a “pale, lean” fellow, bald and with a big nose. He’s one of the “Milk Men” of Qarth. His casting for the show not only means that the character is likely to be pretty profoundly changed—and here I am talking about his size; I just can’t see him playing Xaro as Xaro is written and Xaro won’t be the physical contrast to Drogo that he was in the books—but it also means that they need to make setting and story changes. Either they disregard the appearance of the “Milk Men” or they change Xaro’s story so he’s not one of them. I dislike both options. Others will feel its minor and doesn’t matter, but I disagree. That’s all there is to it.

Salladhor Saan, in the books, is a Lyseni. Its not entirely clear in the first book, but by the last book it has been made very plain indeed, that the Lyseni are well-known for being blonde and blue-eyed. It appears to be a fascination with the Valyrian look, which seems to be bred for among the Lyseni pleasure slaves, and this does become an important part of certain mysteries in the books. Again, the casting of a black actor as Salladhor Saan leaves the show with two options; ignore the very cohesive Lyseni appearance or change the character’s backstory. Again, I have issues with both options.

But don't go getting any ideas. hippoiathanatoi is quite insistent that she's not racist:

If someone still wants to call me racist, be my guest, but I know you’re making a baseless accusation and that is what matters to me. I am purely looking at this from the point of view of wanting to see the books changed as little as possible. My hope was always that the team behind the show would have the same priorities. With the first season, it felt as if they did. With the second season, I am becoming very unsure of this, and if some of these changes are due to complaints against the first season, then I feel very disappointed. I wouldn’t mind seeing less “sexposition” that isn’t from the books, but I don’t think that the criticism of the show being too white needed to be addressed in this fashion (if that is indeed what they are doing). I honestly see no difference between complaining that Game of Thrones is too white and complaining that a movie about Viking-age Scandinavia is too white. Both of them draw from a pre-existing source and when it comes to adapting the material I don’t place history above the world-building for a book

Most of this happened a months ago, but in the meantime, hippoiathanatoi has been complaining about the future casting of Daario Naharis:

Oh, so supposedly they’re fucking up Daario’s casting too. Yawn, it is getting predictable. At this rate, people who watch the show will think that most of Essos is “non-white”/”non-caucasian”, or whatever the equivalent should be called in Westeros considering the lack of a Caucasus.

Never mind that the First Men, the Andals and the Valyrians all came from Essos…

Never mind that several of the Free Cities show very strong Valyrian influences…

World-building, let us sacrifice you on the altar of political correctness.

And she's still not finished with the issue of Talisa of Volantis/Jeyne Westerling, either:

Oh, now there’s whining that I questioned Talisa being from Volantis.

It is not racist, little fuckwits, to question why you would cast a dark-haired, olive-skinned woman as a noblewoman from Volantis — from one of the most prominent families of the Old Blood, no less — when the nobles of Volantis are said to be not only descendants of the Valyrians but also pretty particular about not mixing that blood with anything else:

“Outlanders, foreigners, and freedmen were not allowed inside the Black Wall save at the invitation of those who dwelt within, scions of the Old Blood who could trace their ancestry back to Valyria itself.”

“He had been a tall man, blue-eyed and fair of face. Some child of Lys or Old Volantis, snatched off a ship by corsairs and sold into bondage in red Astapor.”

Why throw that world-building out when there was an easy solution? Why not have her be from Myr or Braavos, for example?

They felt that it was important enough to have the Targaryen look preserved given that they gave Daenerys and Viserys the silver hair. Why on earth is it then not important that all the Valyrians had that distinct look? This is, for fuck’s sake, likely pretty important to the plot later on. Just have a look at “Aegon” and consider Illyrio and his Lyseni concubine.

The Recycled Racist Menu Story

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:59:04 GMT

So who remembers huntress69? (Assuming you wanted to, that is.)

Well, she's currently in reboot Hawaii Five-0 fandom, writing classic gems like "5 People Who Did What Was Necessary To Get Catherine Rollins Out Of Steve's Life (And How They Did It) - A Pseudo-Halloween Fic", and her latest recycled work "A Night At Wong-Wong's - The Remix Version" (because of course she couldn't refrain from re-writing this classic for ~~the third time~~ her latest fandom).

The second story is a repost because she took down the first version after someone said her story was racist. However, IN THE NAME OF FREE SPEECH, she put it back up again. AND she encourages everyone who wishes to write their own version to take the menu and apply it to their own fandom! Who wouldn't want to have a story centered around a menu with dishes such as "Sum Yung Chick (Different and Delicious)" and "Cum Too Soon (Order Early These Go Fast)"?

If there are other folks who have (publicly) posted how uncomfortable/angry/etc. they are over the second story, I am unaware of any other than this fanficrants entry, and one or two folks who commented on her initial (now deleted) fic post and the follow-up. I feel icky enough going there to find the above links without reading the supportive "You're not racist! WHO DARES SAY YOU'RE RACIST!" comments of her fans.

Being offended about being offended. Loudly.

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:14:26 GMT

fuckyeah makes a run of the mill post in fanficrants about the use of racist phonetic accents in a kink meme fic. Everyone nods and tsks appropriately...except for bgaleb, for whom this is just the last straw. A stand must be taken. And that stand must be coated in more exclamation points than a porcupine's got needles.

I am outraged

I thought all day about all of this and decided to write an open letter to all the pests.

I am sick and tired of all the uneducated fuckheads who took it upon themselves to be offended on behalf of all humanity over a phonetic accent of all things. In that case you have to be offended by half of all classic European literature, you clot-poles!! I am sick and tired of always being politically correct, always being the "smart"one, always being polite and such. But in this case I just fucking can't be all of that!! If you're going to come here and criticize people anonymously, then you can just fuck off.

You choose to be offended by a fucking kink meme for crying out loud!! I don't care about your feelings! I am here to read fan-fiction for god's sake! And it doesn't matter how many people try to reassure the author, or your blubbering justifications, the damage is already done! Because of people like you we can't have nice things. No one wants to hear how offended you are on a kink meme. I am so outraged, I am almost speechless! This is my opinion, if you feel offended by it I do not care whatsoever, you stupid, narrow-minded self righteous fools!

Oh, by the way, if all of you critics are so sophisticated, why don't you go read James Joyce or Leo Tolstoy, not filthy porn on a kink meme then? If you're on a kink meme , you don't have the right to be offended. Hypocrites.

I wish I knew who Author!Anon is so I could console them with hugs and chocolate!

People attempt to explain why kink-acceptance does not mean racism-acceptance, but they are not having with it. The honor of the kink meme must be protected from people wishing to not be confronted by racial caricatures.

I am not here to discuss the law, but a kink meme IS a SPECIAL place indeed! Its is deliciously filthy and kinky and deviant and full of prohibited fantasies and explicit descriptions! If people willingly go there they should be prepared for anything, that's my point. Did you ever read about all the kinks in your daily newspaper? No? I thought not. But if you ever do, THEN you could be offended, because some of the stuff IS PROHIBITED BY LAW in some countries or states.

But we could write and read about it on the kink meme freely. I don't see you complaining about rape or underage fucking or drinking; don't you feel offended by it? So go educate yourself for crying out loud!

bgaleb even posts the offending chunk of the fic so we can all see how unracist it is. It, um...it does not work as they planned. Undaunted, bgaleb continues to yell about how little they care, and flounces eight or nine times in succession until finally ~~the banhammer~~ a voluntary unfriending of the community ends their piteous existence. And nothing of value was lost.

For bonus content and even more exclamation point overload, they go to wail in their journal about it. Something there got deleted, but I have caps should they decide to end the rest.

Same-sex romances to be available on Star Wars: The Old Republic; Religious Right wanks

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 04:12:26 GMT

MaddowBlog on MSNBC: A long time ago, in a galaxy far far, a gay...

Apparently the whole Religious Right versus same sex-romance-in-Star Wars-video-games dogfight isn't over yet.

Quick rewind: Recently, BioWare, the makers of the massively popular MMO video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, decided that one of your role playing options should be a same sex romance. Diverse, the universe is, hm?

Newsarama via Yahoo! News has the report: Same Sex Romance Comes to a Galaxy Far, Far Away. Back to MaddowBlog:

Right on cue, the usual right-wing watchdogs got their midi-chlorians in a bunch and, just like here on Earth, they are trying to eliminate these rebel alliances.

The homophobia ruins the wank. Too bad, cluelessness on the order of Cowboy Bebop at His Computer would have made for great wank. The wankiest of all the complainers were the Florida Family Association, who made the image behind the cut.

NEWS FLASH: In the future, we may not all be white!

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 05:57:53 GMT

The cast for the movie of The Hunger Games has been known for a while, but a certain segment of the fandom is having a hard time coming to terms with something about it: Namely, that Rue and Thresh, both described in the book as dark-skinned, will be played by African-American actors. Worse, so will Cinna, whose ethnicity isn't mentioned, and therefore must be white.

Hunger Games Tweets has been keeping its eye on some of the worse elements. Warning: Some extremely vile, racist language. Did you know that sweet, innocent girls must always be pale and fair-haired? And gay men can't be black? I'm telling you, it's an education.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go vomit.

Lessons from bronies: Removing ableist stereotypes is intolerant!

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:54:58 GMT

Remember the backlash when an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic portrayed fan-favorite Ditzy/"Derpy" as "humorously" mentally challenged? Well, the concerns were heard, and the voice changed!

Aaaaand now some bronies are crying "ruined FOREVER!". To the tune of "not liking our insensitivity is intolerant!"

So, everyone who can now watch the clip without cringeing, you're harshing someone's squee, and that's terrible.

Fanfusion is naughty

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:26:22 GMT

This is more of a signal boost than anything.
Never ever host fansites on Fanfusion

A tawdry tale of socks and harassment and spam and Domain names held hostage.

ETA: This isn't the first time, and Toya herself speaks up
Thanks to an anon on Wank Report, pfeffermuse and octavia for the tip.

The Arkh Project

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:31:53 GMT

thanks to a mouse at wank_report for the write-up
So, the Arkh Project is a game in development, made by queer POC and focusing on queer characters of color. True, they've been targeted by bigots, but that's only served to bring more attention to the project. All good, right?

Well... maybe not so much. For starters, they're ultimately trying to fundraise $100K-250K to make this game, which seems a bit... ambitious for crowd-sourcing. It gets iffier when you find out that none of the people involved seem to have actually completed a game and that they explicitly chose IndieGoGo because it wouldn't require them to refund the money if the project goes bust. To make things even worse, all they have so far is some concept art; there's no concept or design document, and they plan to farm out all the art, design, and programming to other people (as detailed on their IndieGoGo campaign). They do plan to release a design document by the end of the month, but that's about it for now.

To make things worse, there's evidence that one of the main people behind the project, dumbthingswhitepplsay, is gisei_nashi_ni:
see this chain of links: Sf_drama

plus they were the only genderqueer person working for Kinou Games, last seen being hounded off various LJ communities for being a hypocritical, abrasive jerk (greatest hits at sf_d, trigger warning for racism and rape ).

Anyway, I hate linking to tumblr, but some notable posts (+notes) include:
anti/criticism posts:
http://ardeb.tumblr.com/post/16890249680/okay-ive-been-wanting-to-make-this-post-for-a
http://ardeb.tumblr.com/post/17144475360/alright-this-is-a-more-in-depth-post-about-the
http://privilegedenyingdude.tumblr.com/post/16599011960/image-courtesy-of-a-commenter-on-themarysue-com

pro posts:
http://dumbthingswhitepplsay.tumblr.com/post/16892324535/bay-sick-all-lee
http://clitt-tastic.tumblr.com/post/17116402049/reasons-why-i-say-fuck-all-of-you-that-are-boycotting
http://alexandraerin.tumblr.com/post/17183434038/anybody-who-thinks-that-when-people-are-offering-to

You can also look at the tag though not everything is tagged, of course.

There is also a new post at SF_D, with highlights in the comment including links to gnn talking in other communities on lj about working on a game that clearly is The Arkh Project, and possible tracing of some of the character art that The Arkh Project has posted.

WTF RWA?

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:43:31 GMT

I'm going to let Kari Gregg explain since she does it better than I could.

RWA defines romance as:

A Central Love Story: The main plot centers around two individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. (Emphasis mine. Full text)

Two individuals. In no respect are those individuals differentiated by gender or sexual orientation. LGBT romances are no less romances than stories with heterosexual couples, according to RWA’s own definition.

And yet some still insist on excluding LGBT romance from general romance categories.

Romance Writers Ink(RWI) is a Tulsa, OK based RWA chapter that sponsors an annual contest, More Than Magic (MTM), for published writers. In recent years, LGBT romances have been accepted as contest entries. Many have scored well in the contest, finaled and even won.

This year, MTM’s rules & regulations were changed to state:

– Note: MTM will no longer accept same-sex entries in any category.

No reason for this change is given.

So…I emailed the contest organizer to ask why this change was enacted. The contest organizer replied that RWI chapter members were “uncomfortable” with accepting same-sex contest entries. “Same-sex was just too much.”

Yeah, you read that right.

I don't about you guys, but discrimination makes me pretty 'uncomfortable' too.

Other links:

Online petition.

MTM's rules.

Heidi Cullinan's response.

Stephani Hecht.

Edit: Smart Bitches Trashy Books weighs in.

EDIT 2: RWI responds. They're taking their toys and going HOME because y'all are meanies for complaining about their homophobia. Also, banning YA novels from the contest is totally the same thing as banning same-sex novels. Totally.

Tolerate my (friends) intolerance.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:55:35 GMT

So. bad_rpers_suck.

I know, I know. Fish, barrel. Hives of scum and villainy.

Fair warning; I am in the BRPS threads, making a couple of choice comments, but I decided to go with unfunny_fandom over i_wank due to... Well. Unfunny.

wolfwonderess is not happy. Cruising for RP, she comes upon a RPG Site with some... very special rules.

wolfwonderess comes across an RP site with a jarring ruleset that explicitly spells out that homosexual relations are not like other relations. Or, in their words

"[009];; Homosexual characters are allowed in the main role-play with the same limitations as heterosexual characters. However, if you plan to role-play a homosexual character with somebody, you must discuss it with them beforehand and respect any limits they may impose upon you, whether this means no sexual advances or no homosexual characters period. Spoiler tags must be used if a post includes any sort of physical, homosexual interaction. Minor flirting allowed without tags."

When Wolfwonderess points out that, hey, this is kinda offensive, she's told that, no it totally isn't, because there are two religious members on the board who're uncomfortable with homosexuality and besides, there used to be a NO HOMO rule before, so this is actually a compromise and besides one of the mods is pansexual, so there's totally no bigotry here.

Originally, I was going to let this one slide for a number of reasons; it's not really unusual to see people making games with stupid rules, I wasn't aware of the site link, and so forth, and so on.

But this thing just won't stop.

From site members supporting Wolfwonderess in personal messages, to an invite to come discuss the issue in the site's cbox - apparently from either a staff member or one of the people bothered by homoesxuality, if I read it correctly.

Not so much; the convo got the cbox shut down, and then it spilled on over to RPG-Directory - it's cut short, though.

Then Wolfwonderess has an earnest chat with the admin via PM, which she puts up on GoogleDocs. The pertinent point?

When Wolfwonderess asks "would you let them include a limit like "I won't RP with black characters"?"

The answer was "Yes, yes, I would."

Of course, beyond just complaining on her deviantart account (and getting a counter-complaint), the admin has also been shifting the rule. You'd think that just removing any references to sexuality at all would fix the issue (maybe rewrite it a little so it doesn't look weird), but no. It keeps morphing. And despite attempts to get "better" at this whole "compromise" thing... It doesn't.

I'm not going to troll the wank. I'm not going to go on their site, or RPG-D, or deviantart and yell at them.

I am going to make sure that my friends and acquaintances stay away, though.

Multiple interpretations of canon? In MY fandom?

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:26:30 GMT

Warnings for homophobia with a side of sexism and probably various other -isms that I'm not entirely sure I have a name for! Also, massive amounts of jaw-droppingly over-the-top condescension.

Alexds1 is a fan of original recipe Sherlock Holmes, which is the only version that matters! Alexds1 has a problem with adaptations of literary works. And people who enjoy those adaptations. And people who view those adaptations as legitimate works in their own right. And people whose interpretations of creative works differ from Alexds1's. But Alexds1 especially has a problem with anyone who dares to speculate about Sherlock Holmes's sexuality, which is spelled out totally unambiguously in the original source material!

It doesn't take long for the pwnage to begin.

Cherik disability wank

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:34:13 GMT

TW: ableism and related fail. Edit: And slurs being flung around.

This has been posted for a friend of a friend who wishes to remain anonymous. Leandralocke is a mod of ONTD_pinto and has been banning people from her journal (status of banning people from the comm unknown), so I offered to post it for her. As of when I found out about this, everything was unlocked. To the wank!

this got long, but it's got links to all the posts I could find.

It starts with a Cherik fic in which Charles' paralysis is psychosomatic and curable by Erik's magic cock. She doesn't mean to be ableist, she just "prefers Charles to be whole, mentally and physically," but it doesn't matter because "it's just fiction." She goes on to say she has "what can be considered a disability" (later revealed to be lactose intolerance and bacne), and she would love it to be cured -- wouldn't all people with disabilities rather be "fixed?" And if it's ableist to magically cure paralysis, then wouldn't we have to ban doctor's shows?!

After a few comments pointing out the problematic elements of the story and her responses, she starts banning people from commenting and responds with a post (duplicated here) about how it's all personal preference, and pointing out ableist storywriting is "flaming." After getting a few more comments on the matter, she sets the post to private, but continues missing the point on her Tumblr, even going so far as to wish her "flamers" to have their periods in a shark tank.

All the while, she's screaming at Twitter:
FUCK YOU ALL! link
I AM SO FUCKING DONE WITH ALL THOSE FUCKING OVER-SENSITIVE PEOPLE! LIFE IS TOUGH BOO-WHOO! FUCK YOU ALL link
Everyone that calls me anything -ist from this day forth will be immediately deleted and banned and blocked. Just GTFO you whiny bitches. link
AND IF ANYONE EVEN SO MUCH AS UTTERS THE WORD PRIVILEGE DITTO! STOP THROWING THAT AT PEOPLE WITHOUT KNOWING THEM!!!!!!!!! link
@geekbydefault Stuff happening on LJ. Apparently I'm "ableist" what the ever loving fuck that even is (lovely how new words are being - link
@geekbydefault constructed by those whiny, annoying PC freaks all the time) just because I'm healing paralysis in a fic. Uh right. link
That's why I love Aussies, they don't know what PC is. Fuck you all you awesome Aussie cunts! :D link
To all a-holes in the world: Ho, ho, fucking ho. I hope a reindeer shits on your head tonight! link

She posts the third part of her story with a disclaimer about "constructive criticism" and "guilt-tripping" her. This is HER STORY, she can do what she wants!

The fourth part brings the best drama to the yard. She starts by telling everyone how adorable and silly they are, but once people address her missing the point, she devolves into obvious sarcasm apologizing for their reading disability and giving fake apologies for the bullshit she said before.

One of her friends chimes in anonymously by saying she has "artistic privilege" and therefore deserves a free pass because hey, it's just fiction! A (former?) friend comments anonymously, revealing that this is a habit of leandralocke's, and telling her she is "behaving like a child." leandralocke presumably finds the commenter's identity, calls hir a hypocrite for past drama, and begins calling everyone in the threads a hypocrite for... something.

Someone calls her story anti-Semitic, and she replies with "It's because I'm German, right?" which she seems to think is a pun. Her beta jumps in and says that using a Natalie Portman icon doesn't make you Jewish, and since she's Jewish and not offended, no one can be offended.

She, of course, takes the moral high road and continues screaming about them on Twitter:
Here come the a-hole cunts again. If stupidity hurt they'd scream in pain all day. link
And the wank goes on and on and on. Like a Celine Dion song. link
lol now I'm just trolling back. Someone said "All the awards" to one stupid comment. I posted a pic of the golden Razzie ^^ link
"This is racist/ableist/anti-semitic/whatever-ist" is NOT a valid point as long as you have NOTHING to back your allegations up. link
Ok, several people come to my LJ to harass me and *I'M* a troll?? That's cute. link
Cunts cunts cunts, cocksucking cunts. Oh, and this is MY Twitter. I DO WHAT I WANT! link
Because I'm not a fucking TROLL like you cunts. CUUUUUNTS! Yes. I kinda like the word. I vent and rant if I fucking want to! link

She starts deleting comments, banning anyone who disagrees with her, and disables anonymous comments so that the post doesn't garner any more discussion. Then she follows it up with a final Tumblr post ordering her dissenters to "ACT LIKE A GROWN UP YOU BITCHES" or otherwise "SUCK MY IMAGINARY COCK! Until you choke on it and DIE!"

What is logic, indeed, leandralocke

Stay classy, AGA!

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:48:35 GMT

(Warning: this wank may require an immediate infusion of baby animals wearing people clothes. This is small but virulent. Thanks to the wank_report nonnys.)

Torchwood fans have been wondering why there hasn't been any news on a new season; theories ranged from the partnership between Starz and BBC falling through to writer to producer Russell T. Davies shifting his attention to a new series entirely. Even the actors didn't seem to know what was going on.

Yesterday the story broke about why the season has been delayed, and it's for one of the worst possible reasons: RTD's partner has been diagnosed with brain cancer and he's taking time off to take care of him.

The Anti-Gwen Alliance (you may remember them from such wanks as "let's wear character bashing shirts to a con the actress playing the character is attending!" (original post now gone; wank report here, pretty wanky on its own, partial screencap here, because the internet never forgets) handles the news with their usual grace and tact.

Some, um..."highlights:"

I'm sorry for the poor guy who has cancer (and the misfortune to love RTD) but this can't be the reason why Starz does not continue.

I feel for anyone in the other guys position, especially as he now appears to be having to be nursed by Toad of Toad Hall, but I feel NO sympathy, whatsoever, for RTD. He is clutching at straws- no-one has picked up on his god awful "cucumber" thing so he needs an excuse to get back over here and mess with our TV again. I just hope to god that the BBC has the sense to barricade the doors and pretend they aren't home when he calls.....

And once again somebody else gets blamed for RTDs fail. No fans to blame left Crusty? The terrible boyfriend needs to step in as the goat? That's low.

I'm going to go write some fluff now. Or look at puppies. Maybe write about my OTP playing with puppies.

Professional fandom

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 07:28:13 GMT

Apologies for the lack of backstory links, I'm typing this from a phone. I think that's the only comment I've made in what I'm linking other than maybe something about php and ruby.

Otw (organization for transformative works) elections are happening right now, and boy is it wanky.

It was going to be unfunny, as you might imagine when three of the six candidates mention volunteer burn out ( http://facetofcathy.dreamwidth.org/229943.html ) in their candidate statements and one candidate Naomi Novik, founding member says she hasn't noticed.

Well if she hasn't noticed it can't be true right?

http://renay.dreamwidth.org/236955.html

Oh. Oh dear.

Add in that Sanders the candidate of colour has kept her main fandom journal for elections, and has a similar platform to the others, is told that she is too angry and has her friends getting anon comments telling them to tell her to watch her tone.

Then shit blows up when they fuck up the skins for "accessibility" when the new default is grey on grey and lots of red.

http://branchandroot.dreamwidth.org/1255716.html#comments

Apparently this was rushed to get the archive ready for Yuletide. Only Yuletide isn't a otw project.

http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/22095.html?thread=99563087#t99563087

But what really has me gobsmacked is this,
from: copracat
Let me make sure I have this correctly:

The chair of the board has been told by someone/s to stop working on a strategic plan for the organisation because she doesn't have the authority to do so.

I'm going to make a cup of tea now.

-----
general-jinjur (the chair in question)

more accurately, i was told that i was dishonest, conspiratorial, and secretive because:

- i asked for volunteers to help gather info and work on preliminaries in an org-wide meeting (org-wide meetings are attended by a large group of volunteers and staff, including at least one representative from every committee)
- discussed how a strategic plan was on the horizon in at least two other org-wide meetings
- hired a staffer (one who, like all our staff, was unanimously board-approved) specifically to work on stakeholder surveys (beginning of 2011 term) as part of preliminary work (staffer wound up with international outreach, as they were best to start that piece).

by doing the above, i secretly formed a cabal without ever giving anyone a chance to participate. also, i failed to do all the work (research and write-up of a proposal for the plan for the process) myself rather than involving anyone or doing any delegation.

just to clarify. (perspectives vary, of course. this is my perspective on events. i officially don't care to argue its accuracy anymore; i have just enough energy and time left to tie up loose ends and write up documentation of the stuff i did manage to accomplish (in 2010. i'm a little behind on docs).)

http://copracat.dreamwidth.org/596794.html?thread=2267962#cmt2267962

What the eff, people.

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:19:01 GMT

[Trigger warning for self-injury, homophobia, misogyny on ALL links, especially the ones hosted on Blizzard's sites]

Blizzard recently had their yearly convention for their three franchises, Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. Fans from all over the globe come to see it, and tickets usually sell out within hours (if not faster) of tickets going on sale. Many Blizzard employees have praised it for being a family event, but I've never been so I don't know how generally family friendly it is.

This year, their closing ceremony included a video from the lead singer of Cannibal Corpse, bashing alliance players in sexist and homophobic terms. Here is the censored version they played, and here are the uncensored comments. Megabitch provides the comments for those who don't want to watch Youtube.

Some of their employees replied to fan comments, although they mostly/only focused on the "Blizzard hates the Alliance!" complaints. Bashiok with a fauxpology, Zarhym with "It was just a joke!"

WoW_Ladies and Dear_Gnome both have mostly safe discussions but there are trolls and bigots. The WoW boards are not so safe, 1, 2, 3, 4 and oh god, so many more.

On a side note that could really get its own post but I have homework to stop putting off, a lesbian WoW player asked about Blizzard's intentions to have any canon gay characters and then posted about it and made a follow up. Her girlfriend also makes a post. Naturally, the whole thing triggered a lot of hate across the forums.

ETA: Worldofwarcraft apparently wants everyone to know that just because you're not on the WoW forums, you can still get plenty of douchery!

ETA2: Level 90 Elite Tauren Chieftan, the band made up of Blizz employees, has put out an apology. Except it's not addressing the homophobia at all, and could easily be about just the alliance players.

ETA3: Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard, put out an actual apology.