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November 23rd, 2009
fandom_lounge
[hyaenid]
 | 03:29 pm
Alright, I need some help. There are two books that I've been trying to re-find again, and I can't for the life of me remember what their titles are.
The first is science fiction set in a conflict between people on earth and spacers, who either live on the moon or in space ships. The main character is captured by aliens who have a ridiculously advanced stealth ship who are trying to stop the conflict for some reason.
The other is a fantasy series. The main character and his dog are part of a people who are stuck in this labyrinth death trap world, except he has escaped and is running around trying to figure out a way to bust the labyrinth open. He has swirly tattoos on his forearms which help him do magic (I think?).
Thanks in advance.
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fandom_lounge
[cinnamonical]
 | 03:23 pm - anti-slash bingo cards?
Does anyone know of the existence of an "anti-slash bingo card"? Something similar to the This is Gay bingo card or the No Racism in Fiction F/SF Edition bingo card or the Anti-Fanfic bingo card? (And here, have an entire Flickr group of these cards, which has an Anti-Gay bingo card but it's not quite specific enough for what I want.)
There's got to be an anti-slash bingo card out there, but if not...would anyone like to help me make one? :D?
Current Mood: cold
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fandom_lounge
[eleutheria]
 | 03:08 pm - epic fantasy recs and podcast recs
Looking for two completely different kinds of recommendations, from the people who are so incredibly helpful with recs!
I just re-watched LOTR this weekend and I've really got a yearning to read more fiction that's like that in certain ways:
-epic in feel and scope, full of both hope and despair, with many memorable characters
-needs to have at least one major battle
-dragons and magic are welcome, though the former isn't really necessary, just nice to have
-something I'm likely to find at the library-- I don't have a lot of cash for books right now, but I do have a very good library. Unfortunately, it's lacking when it comes to many of the feminist, small press, and written-by-POC books that I have seen recced on 50books_POC and blog carnivals. I'm still happy to know about them, but I'm concentrating on books I can read for free right now-- unless they're really that good
-please no urban fantasy, I'd like to concentrate on older settings.
(Have read: Lots of stuff, but off the top of my head, Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy (the first trilogy are my favorite books ever written), Naomi Novik's Temeraire series (loved it), Ellen Kushner, the Belgariad (disliked it quite a bit), Witches of Eleannan (sp?), Cheysuli series (loved at the time, would probably hate now), Greg Keyes' Thorn and Bone series (loved it!), Butcher's fantasy series about furies (liked it), Sarah Monette's Melusine books (hated them), lots more that I can't recall at the moment-- hopefully this info will help in reccing books!)
The other thing I'm looking for are podcast recs. I just got my first iPod. Progressive, feminist podcasts would be great, news with a left-leaning tilt, anything geared toward prospective writers, anything related to Doctor Who or fantasy fiction or... well, anything you think is neat. I'm also looking for good Pagan podcasts and WoW podcasts, but I think I've got the last one covered.
Thanks!!
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November 22nd, 2009
fandom_rant
[sparkthatbled]
 | 01:35 am - So, Moé...
Moe anime is pretty much the hot issue running throughout fandom these days. It's kind of hard not to be, due to the fact that it's mostly about cute or sexy teenage girls in endless general permutations. Everybody knows about it, and it's hard not to have an opinion on it.
For me, moé anime is a genre that is pretty schizophrenic, because its definition changes depending on the person you're talking to about it. And therein lies the problem that I have with moé. Generally, I don't hate it that much. I hate the creepy fanservicey moé anime and the weak harem anime with a burning fury of a Chapter of Space Marines, but the light, cute and innocent stuff I let by, even enjoy, most of the time.
No, what gets my goat is the big "war" between pro and anti moé factions in fandom, with wank flying about the place and people ranting and raving about "greasy slimy pedos" and "angry screaming whiners". I just want to plug my ears sometimes and wish all of them would shut up. All of them. They're seriously giving me trouble trying to be an anime fan.
Soon I hope, this whole moé wank would die down, and maybe I can actually enjoy anime without feeling guilty for it.
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November 21st, 2009
fandom_wank
[inquisition]
 | 10:46 am - slow-mo panda is slow
We begin our saga on the fair hills of ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) house_wilson, where the grass grows green and the House/Wilson shippers occasionally throw shit fits over whether or not David Shore is dicking around House/Wilson shippers.
One day, this (relatively) peaceful comm is visited by ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) slow_mo_panda, who had arrived to bring to everyone her thoughts on yaoi The Contract, a love-it or hate-it extreme-whump fic amongst House fandom.
The masses do not react well. (And euclase wins the "most over-the-top reaction to criticism" award for this week.)
Having been thrown out by her ears, slow_mo_panda once again continued her travels, landing on the shores of fanficrants, where she hoped to be greeted with open arms and kind words telling her how everyone else is a bunch of mean bitches.
Alas, she had no luck on that front, either.
After a number of negative comments, she deleted that post and was banninated from fanficrants. And there was much rejoicing.
Hearing the commotion, ffrantsrants and sf_drama arrived on the scene so that they could point and laugh.
However, this is not the end of our story. slow_mo_panda, apparently having not learned her lesson yet, appeared once again, this time in ffrantsrants in order to talk about how oppressed she is. Or something. ETA: Now locked down, but here's a text-version:
( also long )
ETA2: And now ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif) doire brings the screencaps.
Caps courtesy of xayeidemon.
ETA: Removed links to locked fanficrants content.
ETA2: Apparently, our friend has left a review on ff.net on the original fic:
( cut for length )
ETA3: Now a tl;dr post in her personal journal. Man, she really doesn't know when to stop, does she?
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November 20th, 2009
fandom_lounge
[jkefka]
 | 10:46 pm - Desert Bus for Hope has returned! Charitable Schadenfreude a-go-go!
I hope all of you know about Desert Bus for Hope. If you don't, it's a group of sorry bastards who play the most tedious game ever made (it was specifically designed to be tedious) to raise money for Penny Arcade's "Child's Play" charity. The live feed of the guys is hilarious and the live feed of the bus is delightfully mellow, and you can make special requests with your donation! (E.g. have the crew sing a particular song or put on a silly hat). The bus is rolling again, and as of the moment they started they were committed to drive that bus for 97 hours. That's from money raised before they started, over $10,000! Roll on you crazy fuckers.
ETA: For those of you on Twitter, there is an effort to keep #desertbus up in the trending topics! Come on, let's beat out New Moon!
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fandom_lounge
[researchgrrrl]
 | 08:39 pm - the grandest XO of ALL
X-posted from ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif) sparklefield since this is pure multi-fandom awesomeness:
The Simpsons's 2010 Hallowe'en special will feature a segment in which Lisa falls madly in love with a vampire boy named Edmund. Cast as the voice of Edmund?
Daniel Radcliffe. ♥!
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fandom_wank
[bobafeis]
 | 02:44 am - We don't actually know if this is plagiarism wank, unless someone out there is an internets lawyer
Here's some Project Runway plagiarism wank to go with the lovely vanity pub and author wank. I hope it goes without saying that there might be a spoiler or two for the finale, but I'll say it anyway: There are spoilers for the finale in this post.
Project Runway "villain" and finalist Irina had a shirt in her final Bryant Park collection that has all the reasons she loves New York written on it. Oh, wait. Those aren't the reasons she loves New York, those are the reasons that someone who wrote a famous New York Magazine article loves New York. And this is the same girl who was going to feature Coney Conney Island artwork in the collection until she was told that it would be copyright infringement? And NY Mag says that she didn't ask permission? And I don't even have to tell you that this isn't going to end well, do I?
And then ( spoileriffic things happen! And so does wank. )
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November 19th, 2009
fandom_wank
[jkefka]
 | 07:54 pm - Harlequin vanity bodice-ripping wank! (Even more awesome than it sounds)
Hang on to your hats, kids, this one's a doozy in several parts. To start off, you might want to catch up on agilebrit's clairvoyantwank writeup. Clairvoyant indeed! To sum up, romance publisher Harlequin Enterprises teamed up with a publisher called ASI solutions to form Harlequin Horizons, a vanity press. Romance Writers of America promptly revoked Harlequin's "recognized publisher" status.
And now for a wank in several parts, involving a goodly number of awesome people in addition to a wanking Cast of Thousands (tm):
( Part 1: PubRants )
( Part deux: various forums )
( Part Three: SBTB, and Nora Fucking Roberts )
( Part the last: The NEW YORKER?! )
And finally, THIS JUST IN from PubRants. Watch that post for further fappery developments! Notably, Harlequin has decided to dissociate the "Harlequin" name from their vanity publishing rig in response to the RWA slamming them, and the MWA has weighed in. ETA: And the wank has matured nicely! Here's a couple comments of note: Anon #1, Anon #2, "Harlequin, were not stupid" [sic].
And here come the ETAS!
#1: SFWA tweets a heads-up, and the glorious katamari of wank rolls on!
#2: Coutesy of magnolia_mama, Lee Goldberg drops his two cents from the MWA soapbox. In a shocking turn of events, he seems to be making a cogent, reasonable argument. My world is rocked.
#3: annathepiper links us to SFWA's statement, which is possibly the strongest yet! For a snippet:
...Further, SFWA believes that work published with Harlequin Horizons may injure writing careers by associating authors’ names with small sales levels reflected by the imprint’s lack of distribution, as well as its emphasis upon income received from writers and not readers....Until such time as Harlequin changes course, and returns to a model of legitimately working with authors instead of charging authors for publishing services, SFWA has no choice but to be absolutely clear that NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA. Further, Harlequin should be on notice that while the rules of our annual Nebula Award do not expressly prohibit self-published titles from winning, it is highly unlikely that our membership would ever nominate or vote for a work that was published in this manner....SFWA does not believe that changing the name of the imprint, or in some other way attempting to disguise the relationship to Harlequin, changes the intention, and calls on Harlequin to do the right thing by immediately discontinuing this imprint and returning to doing business as an advance and royalty paying publisher.
Count on the pew-pew lasers genre to bring the burn!
#4: Found by pariforma, someone named Jackie Kessler has an excellent (and amusing) summary of the whole mess on their blog. The pricing breakdown (with reference links to the Harlequin price-sheets themselves) is particularly well-done.
#5, which should be like #3 but I missed it the first time: via lady_ganesh, Mr. Scalzi has spoken. Does anyone else smell something...burning?
( Too Hot (and big) For Your Flist )
Mmm, PR barbecue. As a bonus, there's a lovely herd of teal deer in the comments, including some truly lovely wanking by one Diana Peterfreund and a few others. Scroll on through, it's a good time.
Blooper reel: We, uh, may have played a part in crashing SBTB for a while there. please don't kill meeeee
#6: Zoe Winters continues her wanking in the comments of an article at the Examiner. Thanks dreamworld!
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November 18th, 2009
fandom_wank
[damien]
 | 02:18 pm - Get your Satanic wank out of my distro!
Background: Ubuntu is a distribution of Linux. Think of it as a version of Linux like you have Windows XP, Vista, Me, 95, etc. Some people created Ubuntun Christian Edition, which annoyed some members of the Ubuntu community who didn't see why a special religious-based distribution was needed but it was mostly a polite argument. Then, in retaliation, Ubuntu Satanic Edition was created.
Cue wank.
Not from the Christians, though! The wank was all provided by a Satanist called HHS and another Satanist who called himself 'friend of HHS', both of whom popped up in the comments box and kept a running argument going with several different people until he randomly disppeared.
Most of it is under the cut, because it's long and takes place over years, but here are a few highlights to whet your appetite, both from him and people who were arguing with him.
HHS starts off with saying "This is very insulting to my religion. I really don’t think you should misuse the Lord’s name like that.
Richard M. Stallman, who is responsible for GNU and Linux, is a jewish psychopath who does not deserve to come near Hell. We do not want to be associated with him or anything made by this communist who never bathes and eats his own hair."
People get confused and think he's a Christian who's objecting to Linux SE. Cue HHS exploding and warning them "It’s very unclever to go against the Lord and dishonour Him and His people. When you die and meet Satan, just try calling Him “jesus boy” too and you’ll know what I’m talking about. I assume that you two are Jews because they call everyone Christian who aren’t Jews or Muslims."
( All hail LINUX -- I mean, Satan/Cthulhu/Flying Spaghetti Monster/God/Allah/[insert deity or pantheon of choice here!] )
Current Mood: Mystified
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November 17th, 2009
fandom_wank
[tetradecimal]
 | 09:01 pm - Back off, man, I'm a scientist!
From wank_report:
Genevieve Koski, writing for the A.V. Club, offers her opinion on a recent screening of Ghostbusters for Better Late Than Never, the feature in which authors who never experienced some element of the pop culture of the past go back and review it with the jaded eyes of the present. Her opinion, of course, is negative.
( Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. )
...I don't have to warn for Ghostbusters spoilers, do I?
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November 12th, 2009
otf_wank
[jkefka]
 | 06:43 pm - Go Google Go!
Be ye warned: This is an incredibly nerdy wank and will involve a lot of programming jokes. That said, it's also pretty damn awesome. Picked up originally by platelizard in random_lounge.
Google, as we all know, is staffed by computer geniuses of the highest order, who program constantly. It seems that they found all the programming languages out there insufficient and clunky for their needs, so in a typically Google solution, they went and made their own. It even has its own mascot (the "Go Gopher"). Computer programmers everywhere jizz their britches, no wanking required. Google puts up an "Issue" form to report problems with the young language, and all is fine and dandy...
Until issue 9, titled "I have already used the name for *MY* programming language."
( 'Go,' 'Go!' and bad jokes no one will get )
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fandom_lounge
[tetradecimal]
| 01:16 pm
The November 17 issue of MAD Magazine will feature Sarah Palin as Blunder Woman, "where she battles against David Letterman, imaginary death panels, and her desire to quit everything she does."
That face is a pretty good likeness, though, so I guess Liefeld isn't involved in any way.
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fandom_rant
[overlord_mordax]
 | 12:04 am - I Know Twilight Rants are Passe, but I finally figured it out; why I just can't enjoy Twilight
( A couple paragraphs of Intro... )
So, just moments ago I finished the entirety of the movie (with rifftrax so I wouldn't commit suicide while watching); and I have a few thoughts. The first is that as far as I am concerned the movie is INCREDIBLY faithful to the book; especially the overall mood and pacing, which is to say that it is INCREDIBLY SLOW AND BORING. This was one of my main complaints with the book too; how do you make a vampire love story BORING? To ME?
Watching the movie of Twilight I finally figured out what really keeps me from enjoying it (at least the first book/movie). It isn't the writing; I can enjoy badly written stories if I like the plot and the characters. I've sat through Sailor Moon and other shojo anime and manga; and really at the end of the day that's what Twilight is.
It's not Bella. I know everyone hates Bella, but I don't. I didn't hate her in the book. I LIKE Bella, a lot, I even empathize with her. Yes, she is a "weak-willed" female character who spends most of her time looking for a male to push her around. She's frail emotionally, and physically (clumsy). She's needy, but on the other hand, she knows what she wants. She wants a strong, sexy, deadly, emotionally powerful, physically powerful person to be her (yes I'm going to say it) to be her master. I can relate. And here's where we come to what I hate about Twilight.
Edward. The boyscout, the Superman of "vampires". He's a pansy a goody-two-shoes who never has a moment of weakness. The titillation of the kind of romance Bella wants, and the kind that Twilight tries to pretend it portrays, comes from one thing, a trace of fear. I explored this in my Mary-Sue/Syndrome 'Incredibles' fanfiction, CCR. Some people want someone to serve, and someone who they know they should be a little afraid of. Bella wants Lestat and she ends up with Clark Kent.
And for me, that just kills the romance, and the enjoyment. Going back to the Sailor Moon allusion, in the first season of SM Usagi has good reasons to be afraid of Mamouru, and as long as he's in the story, they never quite go away. He has a force of personality and a demanding persona that Edward lacks completely.
And as a Vampire; a creature of violence and sex sublimated INTo violence, that's just inexcusable.
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November 11th, 2009
fandom_lounge
[pinkranger]
 | 01:13 pm - They moved the headstones, but they didn't move the bodies!
So I went to go see Paranormal Activity last night, and I had a question. After the screen goes black at the end, does anything happen? I was waiting for the credits, but they didn't come, just text explaining what happened to the characters and black, and since the lights went up, I assumed it was over, but I've heard otherwise. Anyone know if anything important happened?
Also, Night 20, holy crap!
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fandom_wank
[reeve]
 | 08:23 am - Activision and Infinity Ward Hate PC Gamers
There was a time when all the first-person shooter fanboys were hot for Modern Warfare 2. That was before it was announced that the PC version wouldn't support dedicated servers, and players would instead be stuck having to use a matchmaking system. According to the Joystiq piece: Even without a doctorate in PC gaming affairs, it's easy to see how this fact would upset someone (or some community) who drops a wad of cash every month on renting a private server. Also preturbed by this news are fans of modded game modes and custom maps -- both of which would be unlikely under the IWNet framework.
( PC gamers are not amused. )
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November 10th, 2009
fandom_wank
[twinno]
 | 02:22 pm - Go Puck yourself: Glee wank.
Glee, by its very definition, is about opening yourself up to joy. That, or it refers to a new television show that follows a high school glee club, made up of a bunch of mismatched students.
The wank revolves around an ongoing Glee Club Survivor poll, in which members of gleeclub vote off their least-favorite characters one round at a time, so that their favorite will be the last one standing. Sounds fun in theory, but in practice it provides a perfect petri dish in which to culture some character-bashing wank.
One character in particular is getting more heat than everyone else.
( Cut for the crazy. )
Aside from the trolling, there's a helpful guide as to how fans should vote, calling anyone who likes four other characters "obviously idiotic and completely daft."
So who's going to win? Mischa Collins, of course. Because wank always comes back to Supernatural.
Some extra credit reading: this wank apparently started in a now-deleted post on gleeclub, which led to the creation of glee_meta. This post contains some not-so-wanky discussion the topic of questionable consent.
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November 9th, 2009
fandom_wank
[sheep]
 | 11:41 pm - X-Factor? How about WTF-Factor!
For those who are wondering, the X-Factor is like American Idol, only in Britain.
Every Sunday is the sing-offs between the two acts with the lowest votes, and this Sunday's sing-off has caused much wank! But this wank has been brewing for a while.
Introducing the Jedward twins, or more precisely John and Edward, who have infected a good chunk of Britain with a bad case of Train Wreck Syndrome.
In the beginning, there was some hate due to their antics at bootcamp. Then there were accusations of Louis only putting them through because they are Irish. Simon Cowell expressed on numerous occasions that he thought they were ridiculous, that they shouldn't have been put through and that they are awful.
But the weeks went by and they gained a bit of a cult following, but they also gained some hate.
( Read more... )
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