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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
| Friday, August 29th, 2008 | ||
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fandom_wank [ ilya ] |
2:39p | And the Twilight Wank Saga continues with an author flounce... As a lot of you must know by now, the first 12 Chapters of Midnight Sun, Smeyer's addition to her Uh-may-zing boooookes was leaked on the internet several days ago, and this has chagrined her dazzle verily. From her official website: August 28, 2008 (part II) As some of you may have heard, my partial draft of Midnight Sun was illegally posted on the Internet and has since been virally distributed without my knowledge or permission or the knowledge or permission of my publisher. I have a good idea of how the leak happened as there were very few copies of Midnight Sun that left my possession and each was unique. Due to little changes I made to the manuscript at different times, I can tell when each left my possession and to whom it was given. The manuscript that was illegally distributed on the Internet was given to trusted individuals for a good purpose. I have no comment beyond that as I believe that there was no malicious intent with the initial distribution. I did not want my readers to experience Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited and published. I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being. As the author of the Twilight Saga, I control the copyright and it is up to the owner of the copyright to decide when the books should be made public; this is the same for musicians and filmmakers. Just because someone buys a book or movie or song, or gets a download off the Internet, doesn't mean that they own the right to reproduce and distribute it. Unfortunately, with the Internet, it is easy for people to obtain and share items that do not legally belong to them. No matter how this is done, it is still dishonest. This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control. So where does this leave Midnight Sun? My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn't like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely. I'd rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun. It was only an incomplete draft; the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes. But how do I comment on this violation without driving more people to look for the illegal posting? It has taken me a while to decide how and if I could respond. But to end the confusion, I've decided to make the draft available here (at the end of this message on the Midnight Sun page). This way, my readers don't have to feel they have to make a sacrifice to stay honest. I hope this fragment gives you further insight into Edward's head and adds a new dimension to the Twilight story. That's what inspired me to write it in the first place. I do want to take a moment and thank the wonderful fans who have been so supportive of me over the past three years. I cannot begin to tell you how much each of you means to me. I only hope this note will stop all the confusion and online speculation so that the Twilight universe can once again become the happy escape it used to be. After this incredibly busy year, I am now focusing on spending more time with my family and working on some other writing projects. --Stephenie I don't think I need to add much more than that. Lol. This is so bloody beautiful...Oh Smeyer...please to be going over there to cry upon your pile of ill-begotten millions. We all know that that book is going to be finished and published eventually so that you can add to your dragon hoard of booty. Who else thinks that she's just waaaaahing for the sympathy and threatening to not provide any more crack so that everyone can forget about the epic fail that was Breaking Dawn and start kissing her ass again? *raises hand*Edit: And we get reactions from the Amazon Boards and the ♥ TwiMoms ♥. The ONTD comm weighs in on the situation. |
| Thursday, August 28th, 2008 | ||
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fandom_wank [ gusty ] |
10:42p | I'm sure there's a masturbation joke I could make here but I'm stumped. If you've been following F_W for a bit you're probably aware of the existence of FurAffinity, the furry-themed art website. Recently, the website had been down for about a month due to a supposed hardware failure. During that time many users, unable to function without their hot hot hermaphrodite liontaur porn, flocked to a lesser known site called Furry Art Pile. Yes, it's lovingly called FAP most of the time. Many users decided that they liked FAP better, and made this known in their various journals on FurAffinity when it returned. They found it more user friendly, and there was also much suspicion that the 20k raised for new hardware by FurAffinity was not all going back into the site. Which brings us to yesterday. The head admin of FAP (Dylan) made an entry in his personal journal that he just wasn't having fun with the project anymore and was shutting it down. As in, right then and there. There was no warning period. Even more troubling -- he had recently been accepting donations on the website for upgrades. Needless to say, this doesn't go over very well. Most replies being fairly blunt. Then a few of the admin's friends come in to make fun of the complainers: ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} losdelroro: "Major props to you for taking a pet project so far and enjoying it. When it starts to be work and people start demanding stuff of you and all their "contributions" is the extra $2 they got as a tip from working at Starbucks, you dont owe them a damn thing. I hope you enjoy your next project as much as you enjoyed this one and I know you'll do amazing things!" And later: "I dont really care what things he admitted to screwing up or not, what matters to me is a person's personal opinion and right to do what they want with a website they created from scratch. Especially if it eats up huge amounts of time to maintain and upgrade when the total amount "donated" doesnt even cover server costs. I didnt' say he only got $2, I was insinuating that the donations were meager collections and scraps that people had left over when they weren't buying comics, porn or fursuits. I think you just need to accept that its going away, deal with it somehow and move on and stop being so petty. Its not exactly crushing your world is it? Didn't think so." After the uproar from people not even able to grab what they needed off the site before it was shut down, the site itself was reopened with an announcement that it would be closing on September 1st. Still, the only advice Dylan gives to those who donated? Take it up with Amazon. |
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fandom_lounge [ j_crew_guy ] |
2:19p | LEGO Batman: The Cartoon! LEGO Batman cartoon in the works. Speaking to GI.biz at the Games Convention last week, Traveller's Tales producer Rich Earl revealed that a TV show based on their latest Lego project is indeed in the works. The show is being produced by a separate studio in the states, using TT's assets to bring classic Batman characters to life. "My understanding is that they will use the engine, the Maya files where the characters come to life, but they'll be creating animated... I think it's a 20-minute cartoon. I'm personally quite intrigued to see how it comes out. Lego, every time they've had a new brand out, they've done some CGI stuff as well, but I think this will be quite different." Already a debate has broken out as to whether they should use voices or keep the cartoon dialogue-free. And if they're going to use voices, should it be Adam West or Kevin Conroy as Batman.... |
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fandom_lounge [ sarajayechan ] |
12:26p | I forgot to ask last time-anyone have a screencap of the cluster arrangement for LJ? I ask because LJ's acting up for me again and if I'm not the only one, I wanna remember which cluster I'm on for future reference. edit: ...well this is weird. >.> I can get to my journal and my flist and the cluster menu, it's just the homepage that won't load. edit II: ...now it's yo-yoing. Current Mood: *thud* |
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clairvoyantwank [ pantsgolem ] |
2:41a | Impending furry wanksplosion Furry Art Pile, aka FAP (I see whut u did thar!) From what I can gather, FAP was supposed to have more features than FA, with user input and whatnot, and avoid all the technical problems that plagued FA. (Obviously, nobody expected it to avoid all the drama problems, because: furries.) Alas, it was not to be. There are links posted to allow authors to download all their content, and users to download all their favorites, which in my mind is a hell of a lot more than most webmasters do when they take their ball and go home. Nonetheless, this is cold comfort for many. The closure happened late in the evening Pacific time, so the real wank will undoubtedly start in the morning. Still, in the webmaster's LJ entry announcing the closure, the seeds have already been sown. So far we have in the incubator: There's probably also a thread or 10 at FA already, plus at least one in each of the major furry LJ comms, but I have to get up for school in like 5 hours, so I leave it to you intrepid wankas to brave those waters. Please, no furbashing. Edit: post in official community (no comments ATM but they are enabled) and one in wtf_fap |
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hot_daily [ puipui ] |
3:16a | Michelle Rodriguez  |
| Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 | ||
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otf_wank [ kittikattie ] |
7:21p | How dare you talk about our relationship without my consent. Over in fanficrants, bittersweetwish fusses about how Twu Wuv (with a human W) and said expression of love does not generally come after the first damn date, and most relationships take time to blossom into the hot wubbings. nanuq459 agrees and in a discussion sums up a past relationship thusly: Seriously, we were friends for a long time but then she cornered me, asked if I had feelings for her, and then it was pretty much: Me: Let's see if this works ou-- Her: *TACKLEGLOMP* ....and then the other half of the failed relationship, mercuryblue144, shows up with a curt and simple "Fuck you too." And there is drama. Bonus wankish on metaquotes, where mercuryblue144 is upset that the quote was still metaquoted--even though the other half said it. It's not very big, just really...weird. I mean, no one would have ever known anything if she'd been quiet. --Neth Current Mood: Mundane |
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fandom_lounge [ chaimonkey ] |
9:27p | summarize a book in one sentence Let's play a game! Inspired by an /r9k/ thread, oddly enough. Summarize a book in one sentence, other people guess what it is. Examples: Teenage boy complains about 'phonies', his problems, and things that 'really depress' him. Three midgets jump into a volcano trying to destroy some evil jewellry [sic] Go Speed Racer, Go! Current Mood: Caffeinated |
| Thursday, August 28th, 2008 | ||
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fandom_rant [ el ] |
5:01a | Fuck you, Bakuman. Because MEN HAVE DREAMS THAT WOMEN JUST CAN'T UNDERSTAND! <3<3<3 And we girls ALL dream of getting married, and forever being GRACEFUL AND CUTE! Ooh, and just forget all those pesky worries like grades (EW!!) because BEING TOO SMART ISN'T CUTE, right?? <3<3<3<3 *STABSTABSTABSTABSTAB* (Why have I seen some girls laughing along with this statement? WHY? *CRIES*) |
| Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 | ||
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dreamer_marie |
5:59p | Desperately Needed Can anybody recommend good funny, snarky websites other than F_W et al? I'm still suffering from a broken heart and I need all the laughs I can get. Thanks. |
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fandom_lounge [ spawn_of_kong ] |
5:04p | |
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the_hms_stfu [ quantumreality ] |
12:55p | Relatively minor as ship wankery goes But this is still bizarrity gold. A poster on Fiction Alley actually throws up, apparently not in a fit of literary exaggeration, when said poster sees Draco/Ginny. Now admittedly I'm no big fan of the ship, but then again I don't sink to the level of batshittery that calls it acceptable to announce to the world that you actually become physically ill at the thought of two fictional characters getting it on. They don't exist, for Pete's sake! Earth logic, she is absent. *le sigh*. |
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fandom_lounge [ caito ] |
11:12p | |
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fandom_lounge [ reeve ] |
8:47a | Tiger Woods: Like Jesus, in a way A YouTuber found a glitch in the new Tiger Woods game that allows the player to walk on water. The response from EA Sports. |
| Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 | ||
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clairvoyantwank [ criticalcricket ] |
11:51p | Her soul bond, Sparkle Dobbins? Remember princess_magpie, the one who used super special horsey magic, was soulbonded to her doll and had sexual relations with it? She makes a horse doll that she calls "Sparkle Dobbins" and she posts pictures in horse_lovers. The Ugly Crap community picks up on it. A few minutes later, someone blows the whistle and the princess shows up to pitch a fit. If she's learned her lesson, she might just toss a few comments around and go home. If not, we might be in for some excitement.ETA: Princess Magpie has flounced from horse_lovers. Stupid Free has discovered the wank. Sparkle Dobbins has appeared to defend his mommy and his birth defects. ETA 2: Sparkle Dobbins posts to SF_Drama. ETA 3: From influencethis - "Even MORE sparkle_dobbins. Though this post in particular references a recent noob post and subsequent flounce on that community, it is truly glorious." |
| Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 | ||
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hot_daily [ puipui ] |
1:42a | Seth Green  |
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fandom_rant [ coffeebun ] |
1:33p | Dear project manager, You're a friend of mine, and you know that. And I know you have it rough these days. However, that is not going to stop me from pointing out all the bs you've managed to come up with. Yes, I do realize people have real lives (I have a job! I KNOW!) and that shit happens. And I know bugging people after a deadline is due is tough. But dude. WE'VE BEEN DELAYED FOR THREE MONTHS, and our project has been ongoing since November of LAST YEAR, and it's supposed to be due in MAY. If you're just going to let everyone slide, why even bother with a fucking deadline? And as the leader, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE DOING ALL THIS SHIT ON TIME. Don't fucking extend the deadline because you suddenly can't make it when the only reason you have is ~*~procrastination~*~ when some of us did manage to finish on time even with school and jobs, when you... didn't have those. And don't you think it's just a little embarrassing that we had to delay the release date when we already had PAID pre-orders? "But it's just fandom! We're only supposed to be doing this for fun!" I agree, it's supposed to be for fun. But does that mean we don't need deadlines anymore? Not even when you've already been given several months to work on it? And don't you think things change, even a little, when you get a lot of people involved? It's a huge, ambitious first project. I know. But a little perspective, here? I offered help several times. I was denied all those times. Then it turned out you can't make it in time, after all. Did you ask for help? No. I asked repeatedly if the most important part of the project was done yet a month ago. You avoided the question, avoided me, then asked one of the members to do it less than a week before the final deadline. Seriously, what? What if she had refused? Then we'll have to delay it even MORE, and that's just. Ugh. So now, I'm the bitch because I should be GRATEFUL!!ichi!1niisan!1!! that it's done, instead of being irritated since we could have organized this a lot better. I AM glad it's done. However, if you're starting another project, I am definitely not joining unless if you manage to straighten yourself out, or if you find someone else who's willing to straighten YOU out. Love, Me. Current Mood: aggravated |
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fandom_lounge [ darksumomo ] |
1:33a | Remember Warner Brothers' lawyers? They're back! Bollywood's 'Hari Puttar' film sparks lawsuit By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM, Associated Press Writer MUMBAI, India - Let's see Hari Puttar get out of this one. Bollywood producers set to release a film called "Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" are working to fend off a lawsuit filed by Warner Bros. that claims the movie title hews too closely to their mega-famous boy wizard franchise. At least they're not suing preteens for running fansites. Current Mood: *thud* |
| Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 | ||
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fandom_wank [ aeka ] |
9:37p | Tired of Steph Meyer's wank yet? Once upon a time in the magical land of YouTube, there was a Scottish Youtuber who got bored one night . Turning on her camera and pressing the record button, she sat on her arse to praise the latest work of the almighty Stephenie Meyer, the next best thing since JK Rowling. She was rather stout with a squared jaw and rectangular shaped eyes. Her hair was a silky brown in colour, straight and thin, shining under her lantern's light. After a few seconds of nasty glares and emo stares, our Scottish Youtuber goes on to make her announcement of just how disappointed she is with fans; going on to patronise the whole fanbase on just how pathetic they really are, not realising the irony of her statements. Quoth she in a patronising tone while staring closely into the camera: "How can you act like this? After reading that amaaaaaaazing book, not shit! not boring! not glorified fanfiction, A-MAAZING BOOK! I'ma say it real clear: A-MA-ZING BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK! You've been waiting for what? A year? And you've been thinking of how wonderful it's going to be, and DYING to get your hands on it, cause it's going to be soooo good! And then you complain about it? Because it's not what you wanted? She briefly blew a small gust of wind into her hair, so as to keep her bangs from falling further into her eyes. "Since when do you get what you want by complaining, you ungrateful little turd?" she enquires with a tone of anger in her voice "Yeah, I'm talking to you! You who is watching this! If you have ever complained about Breaking Dawn because it wasn't what you wanted it to be: I'ma just go this real slow for you, because your brain obviously isn't working right now, because you're being STUPID thinking that its not very good anyway, okay? "Number One: Stephenie Meyer is a GENIUS! Ya-HA, Ya-HA, okay? She rocks! She wrote Twilight, she wrote New Moon, she wrote Eclipse and you loved them!" Not even going halfway through her video, her fellow viewers stopped and said: "Fat FAT FAT FAT You are fat." Another said: "Please tell me, why all the Twilight fans are stupid, fat girls?" And another: "I think YOU'RE overreacting. You couldn't pay me to read that shit again. Maybe one day you'll develop literary taste and you'll realize how godawful Breaking Dawn was -- no, how godawful EVERY book after Twilight was, and that srs bsns people like you have been acting as Stephenie Meyer's cash cows for the past 3 years. Smeyer's sun tanning on her yacht right now that YOU helped pay for, laughing her ass off at the teenies who believe whatever bullshit she spoonfeeds them." But best of all. one said: "THIS. ISN'T. SPARRRRTAAAAA! You're allowed to have your opinion. The 'haters' are allowed to have theirs. Deal with it. Stop being so insane over a book. Y SO SRS BSNS? " But fortunately to her support one kind soul said: "I personally loved the book! Although I do think that weather people loved it or hated it they should be able to share their opinions, I do have a problem with people who take it to ridiculous extreems. I hope that after a while things will cool down and everyone can just get over all this drama. I loved all the books and will just try to ignore all the negative feedback. Also, coming from an American I would just like to say that Fuckwit is the most awesome swear word I have ever heard.lol!" Like the broken clock that used to tick next to me, the vast majority of commentors just went "wankity-wank, wankity-wank, wankity-wank-wank" and occasionally one with a high enough level of oestrogen would go "squee-squee-squee, squeekity sqee! with joy! at the girl who defended Stephie and her literary classics!" This goes on for a while as tradition has it, and then along came an anonymouse to report the wankage at ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} wank_reportI'm ready for my award now for best break-through narrative of 2008. [EDIT]:Oh yes, I forgot to point out that like the big bad wolf, this one also huffs and puffs, but didn't succeed in blowing down the house. But she did however manage to have a sadgasm somewhere in between her huffing and her acid trip when Renessme(sp?) supposedly gave her "visions". She also stated that "real vampires poop and wee on you", assuming of course she has come across real ones in her lifetime, and they didn't actually pop out of Stephenie Meyer's books during her state of emotional high. Thank you anonymous! |
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fandom_lounge [ hallidae ] |
8:33p | Disney Revamping Powers, Activate! After doing a little archive hunting, I didn't see this posted anywhere in the comm, so as a bit of apology for my downer of a last post, I thought I'd bring something a little more interesting and hopefully less depressing (though your mileage may vary). Set to air in October, Studio Madhouse has started an anime retelling of the popular Lilo and Stitch franchise at Disney's commissioning called Stitch!, in which the titular character crash lands on a fictional island off of Okinawa instead of Hawaii and befriends a Japanese girl named Yuna. The Official Site (there's a preview/promo video the fourth link down). Personally, I think Lilo's overall design is cuter, but I'll likely be watching this anyway 'cause I want to see how it comes out. |
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hot_daily [ puipui ] |
4:26p | Picspam Poll Reminder Oh noes, I forgot to post the one-week reminder! Has August really gone by that fast? Wow. So, yes, don't forget, there's less than one week to vote in this month's picspam poll, and if you'd like to change your vote, you may do so here. (I think poor Karl's going to get topped by Freema this month. |
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breecita |
5:05p | |
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baranduyn |
5:59p | Real live specimen of teal deer below, but I also mean it It's always good to actually realize one resolution. Really, this is a happy thing for me. What I've given up (no need to admire my steely resolve, giving it up was one of the best things I've ever done) is fandoms. First point...you know how in fandoms people will begin whining "I can do WHAT I WANT. I can look at the show/book/film/band from my own point of view." They're right. They can. What they don't get is...so can I. Just like those lovely little snowflakes who think they can cut lines at the deli, lecture clerks and shops for not having the proper (i.e. THEIR) holiday spirit and in general behave like demented little Veruca Salt-stepchildren BECAUSE I AM GOD'S CHILD AND JESUS' FRIEND, what they're not getting is...yeah, you are. So is everyone else. To the best of my knowledge Deities don't often play favorites. Oh, and do your own driving; Jesus has better things to do than make sure you don't wrack up the car and kill five people while you're adjusting your lip gloss and talking on the phone instead of, you know, driving. I'm a truly devoted fan of some bands/musicians/writers/actors etc. I'm even a member of Sixx: AM's street team, which if you don't know what that is, is a thing where the band organizes member fans who then do things like request the new single be played by local radio stations and stuff like that. I get messages from the Admiral and usually find it easy to help the band if I can. Why? I think Sixx: AM doesn't just rock harder and better than a whole lot of bands, I think the music is important. The band was founded by Nikki Sixx and the first album is based on his book The Heroin Diaries. I'm an addict...once and addict, always an addict whether using or not...and trust me these songs hit directly home. Thus I have membership in the Sixx: AM Street Team and my ticket stubs from Crue Fest ( the only way to see Sixx: AM perform live at this time; that the lineup for the fest was a palace of metal excellence is pure bonus for me) tucked inside the jewel case of my The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack CD. When I die that album will be buried with me. The list of 'music I must be buried with' is very short, just so you know. That's fandom. Writing real person fiction about the members of the band? That's fucked up. See, now we're into opinions-are-like-assholes-everyone-has-o Here's another opinion: RPF tends to be full-out crap. It has nothing to do with the names inserted into the stories. The names are interchangeable. The stories are all the same, only the names and venues are changed. And one more: the idea that "I can do what I want" means "and everyone else has to go along with it" is pure Veruca Salt. Roald Dahl did not create that character to be emulated; he created her as a horror story and a caricature of what monsters are produced by endless parental indulgence. If Dahl wasn't already dead and if he was living today his weekly encounters with real-life Verucas might cause him to at least consider opening a vein. Or writing an even stronger condemnation. Which the real-life Verucas wouldn't understand. Recently a couple of Veruca Salts made their way to the place where their favorite TV show is filmed. I've never watched the show so I can't comment on why they love it or if their judgment regarding how the stars ought to have behaved toward them is based on the characters these actors portray. All is see is a cautionary tale, the moral of which is 'do not confuse what you think with reality'. Said fans made their way to the set of said TV show. The stars did not immediately stop working, run to them, embrace them, proclaim them their Own Twu Luvs even long enough to give them the horizontal happy. In fact, the staff employed by said show seem to have done their very best to keep the fans away from the stars. Which happens, in part, to be the staff's job. In case you were wondering. They do not owe their livelihoods to a couple of half-witted fans who felt entitled to drive their asses out to see the stars up close and personal. They owe their livelihoods to the show. OH THE TRAUMA. The fantasy did not come true. Fifteen choruses of oh-how-I-hate-them got spewed all over various blog sites. And I...laughed. The stupid was so pervasive that I just had to laugh. The mantra "we're fans" entitles a person to two things: jack and shit. Lemme detail this for ya: Buying a book or an entire series of books entitles the consumer to get exactly what they paid for: the books. You got what you paid for. With the Harry Potter books, you can't argue you didn't get your money's worth because those are some really big books with lots and lots of well-put-together words contained therein. That's all you're entitled to. You are not entitled to tell Rowling what to do with HER characters and HER universe because you laid out some long green for her books. You are not entitled to stop by Chez Rowling and have lunch with her. You are not entitled to tell her how to live, what to think, what to write. You weren't there when she was a struggling single mother on the dole and even if you were you're still not entitled to guide her writing. You're entitled to read the books she wrote, end game. That's it. You get what you pay for. That millions bought those books does not mean the millions are individually allowed to run Rowling's shit. Writing file-off-the-serial-numbers fic about her characters entitles you to nothing. And a lot of fan fic is of that variety; it's little or nothing to do with the characters named within and a lot to do with the typist's own interior landscape. In some cases this interior landscape is a dreary, endlessly unimaginative place where everyone is fucking everyone else, paired off according to the typist's (some of them are not writers, I promise you) needs. They're festivals of projection. Sex means true love. Hate means true love. Everyone must be married and living in the requisite cottage-mit-picket-fence and popping out babies whenever the typist comes up with a really cool new name. What set this off was a personal mistake; I read some fic devoted to one of my fandoms. The fic comes from a popular fan fic series...I think they're up to something like chapter seventy...and while I was laughing my ass off because I was also fighting the feeling that this all felt very, very familiar. Not because the characters were so in character; I think the typist in question was more than a little pissed at the way the TV series played out and decided to 'correct' things, but because I've read nearly the same kind of fic before in any number of fandoms. I've read almost exactly the same kind of series featuring characters from CSI, The X Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Strong, somewhat complex women are reduced to wanting nothing more than a good man, a well equipped kitchen and a whole bunch of babies. Which, by the way, is cool. Personally, I LONG for a well equipped kitchen, because I am a kick-ass cook. But I reject the feminist stereotypes as strongly as I reject the idea that everyone is defined by their preferred genitalia-related pleasure. I think feminism should be women charting their own courses. If any woman really wants to be a very good mother, wife and whatever it is she does as for a living, that's very cool. If a woman wants to be a kick-ass mom and that's all that matters, that's cool too. If she doesn't, that's cool too. Incorporating kids or a male partner does not make a woman a gender traitor. I've been called a gender traitor (that's another essay related to religion) and quite honestly...that made me laugh. If someone thinks I can't practice my religion because I drive stick, well, they're entitled to their opinions. I'm entitled to not allow their opinions to change my life one jot. I really don't care what some people think. But portraying a woman who is always presented as complex as secretly wanting to release her inner 1950s housewife and nothing more is fucked up. Portraying a man who is quirky or just a whole not-like-the-rest of us as longing for nothing more than channelling his inner Ward Cleaver...again, with the fucked up. I don't care if it's two women or two men or a man and a woman or a frog and a knitting needle, when their essential selves is denied I'm calling that fucked up and suspecting that we're getting more of a glimpse into the typist's inner landscape than a close peek at the soul of the character. I don't like peeking at some typists interior landscape. The lack of real imagination and creativity in some people is just a little scary. The fic bit I read reminded me so strongly of some other series of fics I'd happened on that I almost hurt myself laughing. I have no idea if the typist is the same but I'd be almost smugly satisfied to find out this is true. Same fantasies, different faces. I just hope it's not the one who decided Sara Sidle of CSI was in fact a closet wanna-be ballerina and interior designer. I NEARLY SHIT MYSELF LAUGHING OVER THAT FIC SERIES. Before realizing that the typist was obviously getting broadcasts of some other series called CSI. I mean...c'mon. You want to know what the actually a little scary part is? The number of fans of these series. The people who proclaim the typists of said fic series BETTER THAN THE CREATOR. The number of people who, apparently, do not like the idea that humans are not all the same. Scary like whoa. So, I don't do that kind of fandom. I really don't. You could say it's all harmless and amusing but I think contained within the harmless and amusing is a strong, metallic thread of "I want what I want". Which isn't always harmless and amusing. Why did the nasty-bad-evil PAs of the series the young twatlets admire keep them from the actors? Why is this even a question rational human beings would consider? I know of people who let televison chronicle a portion of their lives who have had to move from their homes and make sure their new homes are never shown on their programs again because some fans showed up and expected to allowed into the house to hang out with these people. I'm not even going to go with worst case scenarios, like the murder of Rebecca Schaeffer or the demented woman who came to believe she was secretly married to David Letterman and moved into his house while he was away. Nope, not until the end of this piece. I know of a man who not only had to quit his job but had to move his family well away from the area he'd grown up in because of something he did on a reality based television show. He'd lashed out (admittedly unfairly, but still) at a very popular person on that show and "fans" followed this up by finding the guy's real phone number and leaving death threats towards the man and his wife and kids, who were never on the show for more than ten seconds until the guy felt he had to quit his job. I know of a relative of stars of a fairly popular reality-based series who has had to move and keep his children off the show because of "fans" approaching his very young kids. No, he does not know that you don't mean any harm. Think about how he'd find out the hard way that this fan really did mean harm, he or she had just redefined 'harm' in a very creative and terrifying way. The guy is not even a star or a featured person on the show. I think all told his oldest child and he has been on maybe fifteen minutes of the show, a show which has aired for five years now. Some 'fans' found his house when a glimpse of his mailbox was shown for about eleven seconds in one episode. How scary is that? Mad scary. Outlandish? Yeah, absolutely but let me clue some fans in on a little secret: you do NOT have a neon sign over your head to assure your idol that you're not one of the crazy ones. Furthermore, you can't tell the crazy ones just by looking. Nobody can. The fucked-up do not necessarily give off whoa-I'm-crazy-dangerous vibes at first glance. This I promise you. Sometimes you can't see the crazy-dangerous until its right on top of you. I'm probably remarkably sensitive to fans-who-cross-the-line not because I'm famous but because I have been stalked. Lasted for almost three years and this was long before the stalking laws we have now which I deem incredibly necessary. They're much better than me having to watch my cousin, who was then a Captain in our State Police, wipe away tears while telling me he knew, he knew the guy was dangerous but there was nothing he could do until the guy broke a law. That didn't happen. My stalker showed up at my house only once, likely because I literally turned my dogs loose on him. In the end he didn't get the message that I was not sublimating my passion for him until I quite literally broke his kneecap with a chunk of well-aimed wood when that miserable, insane, ugly fucker dared to touch the bare flesh of my midriff while I was working. Yes, I lost it. Yes, my friends who happened by while I had that living piece of human shit down on the bare concrete of the work floor and was raising the length of wood for what I hoped would be a death blow had to keep me from delivering said death blow. Then they took him outside and beat the shit out of him on their own terms while I finished my work and cried my fear out. Some people don't comprehend words and bluntly, the beatings didn't do anything to restore the stalker's sanity. He decided that I just 'needed some time to come around'. You look that kind of crazy in the eye and it will change your mind about a lot of things. I guarantee that. If it doesn't, send a search party out for your brain. Being stalked, for whatever reason, is not cool. The word 'fan' comes from the word 'fanatic'. Fanatics tend to be worrying. What's cute when you're twelve years old is not cute when you've added a dozen years to that age and you're right up in your favorite actor/writer/musician/TV star's face. It's scary. If someone doesn't get that then the problem is theirs, not the actor's or writer's or musician's or TV star's. Now for the ultimate cautionary tale. In the month of December in the year 1980 a young man showed up to join the gaggle of devoted fans who kept watch outside the Dakota apartment building in New York City. He seemed to be just like the rest of them. He was clutching a copy of the musician the fans were devoted to latest album and expressed the desire to get an autograph. Like the rest of the fans, he waited until the musician and his partner-wife appeared to get into their car to go mix their new album. He approached the star and got the desired autograph scrawled across his album. The other fans applauded this guy for getting the autograph and they settled down to wait for the musician to return from the recording studio. Nobody twigged. Nobody looked at this guy and thought "There's something wrong here." This doesn't mean that these fans or the security hired by the musician and his partner-wife were stupid or lazy. The truth is you can't always just look at someone and know what they're capable of. Thinking this is true, that you'd know the person was dangerous-crazy if you'd been there is a great way to ensure you will die and horribly. You can't tell just by looking. You just can't. And when the musician and his partner-wife returned from the studio, late that evening, the young man who'd kept his just-another-fan mask firmly in place pulled out a gun, stepped forward and ended John Lennon's life on a sidewalk in New York City, a city where John felt loved and safe. Is there a connection between my distaste for some (okay, a lot) of fan fic and ALL real person fiction and danger to celebrities who are really just people with more photographs and video than most of us? Sometimes. Yeah, I really think so. Because the road that led Mark Chapman to kill John Lennon and led John Bardo to murder Rebecca Schaeffer and led Nathan Gale to shoot Dimebag Darrell Abbott dead onstage started when their fannishess twisted into something else. When they decided they knew their respective objects of fanning better than those people knew themselves. When John Lennon did something that made Chapman feel his hero had feet of clay, when Bardo found out Schaeffer didn't love him as much as he thought he loved her -- I'd argue his definition of love was massively wrong, but that's me -- and when Gale realized the band Pantera was gone forever they moved into a new world where the killing seemed right and necessary. Simply, Lennon, Schaeffer and Dime didn't do what a fan wanted them to do. Sound familiar? Sure, Chapman, Bardo and Gale were clinically insane but I sometimes wonder if that determination comes about IN PART so society can sleep at night. They were crazy. They're not Like Us. We'll worry about a society in which the clinically insane can acquire handguns later. The idea that they weren't all that crazy, that some people who encountered them didn't see that mentally they were fraying around the edges must be pushed into the shadows. Granted, just about everyone who met up with Gale on a daily basis knew he was fucked up in a big way. Granted, some members of Chapman's family knew he had some deep seated problems. The thing is, it is sure that at least Chapman could pass for sane-as-anybody on a daily basis. Even while he was travelling all over the fucking country to get the gun with which he'd kill John Lennon and not incidentally deprive two boys of their father and a wife of her husband and break the hearts of millions who loved John's work. What is the line between Nathan Gale believing that somehow the members of Pantera stole a song from him and people believing that they have a better take on one of Jo Rowling's characters than JKR has? How wide is the line between calling over a perfect stranger's child simply because her name was mentioned on a few episodes of her grandfather's reality series and writing letters claiming the child is actually the child of the letter writer? I don't think the line is that wide and I don't always think people realize when they're crossing it. I do think the road begins with the idea that other people exist for no other reason than to serve your own needs. From the woman who decides her ex-husband is simply being stubborn and stalks him to the man who decides that woman loves him, doesn't really want that whole stupid independent life and will understand she belongs to him if she would only listen, the common thread is denial of the autonomy of others. Whether it's your kid, your ex or some guy you've seen around the pizza parlor, the minute someone makes up their own minds about what that person needs...well, my friends, the shit is on. And it hits fandom too. All the fucking time. The reason why you don't see constant reports about how many death threats people get for everything from daring to be Musician X's girlfriend to changing the way they dress onstage is because security experts believe reporting this publicly only encourages others in some bizarre monkey-see-monkey-do way. Fact. Why I often find fan fic and always find RPF worrying is because it gives off these mad 'other people are marionettes who must do what I want' vibes. Bottom line, there it is. If you think there aren't people who live their lives convinced that others exist only to do as THEY want, you're just not paying attention. Eastern philosophers hack away at the "I love you, therefore you must love me and give me what I want" all the time, but nobody reads them. Or, if they do, like the character Otto from the film A Fish Called Wanda was sharply reminded, they just don't understand it. It is not good to expect other people to dance to your tune, whether you consider yourself sane or not. It isn't. Not your child, not your partner, not the partner you want and sure as fuck not someone you only know from listening to their music or watching their TV show. The TV screen is one way, you know. People on TV can't see you watching and I suspect some of them are profoundly grateful for this. Jesus, that could be ugly. One more personal anecdote which does factor into why I find this projecting/expecting shit so worrying. The last one. About...oh, over twenty years ago anyway and likely closer to thirty...I hung around with some guys who happened to be really good with musical instruments and song writing and that. I miss them sometimes. They were fun. I want to emphasize the hanging-around part. Sharing an occasional beer or a pizza. Having a nice talk. No fucking. I don't have sex with musicians. In my own supremely peculiar opinion if I can easily get backstage just by conversing as opposed to having to fellate the entire security crew, road crew and techs first, then I so win. I don't fuck musicians. End game. I'd have to fall hard for one first and that has not happened. HE WAS ON TV AND MTV AND FUSE is not nearly enough for me. I need to get to know before I fall and I can't do that through the scrim of the TV screen. Ees no' possible for me. Anyway, one night the guys were dealing with some new and slightly heavy shit. I remember standing at a bar in a club the name of which I no longer remember and hearing the lead singer tell me, sadly, that he never knew how hot and handsome he was until the video achieved that magical state of Heavy Rotation on MTV. "Sadly" is probably wrong. He was mildly amused, moderately annoyed and resigned to the fact that his sudden lustablilty-factor increase had nothing to do with him as he was and everything to do with that peculiar state known as celebrity. He knew better (not that he wasn't lustable, mind, he was genuinely cute and interesting just not my type) and he knew it wasn't really personal, even if his brand-new-shiny-MTV-minted-fans didn't know that. Which put him well ahead of some people who believe their own publicity far more intently than even the most devoted of fans. A lot of those women wanted simply to fill in the square containing his name on their Groupie Bingo Card and I'm not lying when I tell you such things exist. A lot of women just succumbed to the OMGFAMOUS thing and I will warn anyone about the idea that famous is better. That notion, famous is better than anything led Bonnie Lee Bakley down a deeply weird and fucked up path in her quest to Marry A Celebrity and may actually have led to her death. Death by shallowness, in some ways. It was sad though, what happened to my boys. The long time fans of the band's music found themselves shoved aside by people who'd OMG seen the video or bought the album. Some of the guys in the band kept their heads on straight, some did not. They did not become rich overnight but they did become better known and found out celebrity is a multi-edged sword; it cuts every way there is, some positive and some most definitely not. I found myself channelling my inner seven year old child, the one who didn't understand why her classmates weren't as interested in The Beatles music as hoping to marry a Beatle someday. I've never understood that and please God, I never will. Fandom is a multi edged sword as well. The line between thinking "My God, this is great music/a great book/a great film/a great TV series and more people should know this" and "This is the only music/book/film/TV series which is any good in the history of ever and OMG if you don't agree I H8 you and if they change one little thing or do something in their personal life which rocks my much cherished preconceptions I WILL H8 THEM 4EVA" is not all that wide. When I see people incapable of modulating their fan-feelings I now walk away. Sometimes I'm laughing when I walk away and sometimes I'm quietly hoping the object of the fandom has some really high quality security. And, stupid girl children in adult bodies who went all the way to where they shoot your favorite TV series only to be disappointed when you weren't invited onto the set to correct the writers' misconceptions/play with the equipment/let the stars see you and recognize you were meant to bear their offspring? The assistants were right to keep you away. You are crazy. You're fucked up. You have too much time on your hands. And for those who disagree passionately with everything I've written...I don't care. You're the reason I only listen to Dir en Gray and avoid their fandom like the motherlovin' plague. You're the reason I don't frequent message boards. You worry me. A lot. Current Music: Pantera: "Cowboys From Hell" (RIP Dime) |
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clairvoyantwank [ ari_o ] |
5:24p | current wank 2%; potential wank infinite The Leaky Cauldron posted about Melissa Anelli's new book "Harry: A History" and there are about 40 comments of the "YAY" variety. There are two that may lead in another direction. On p. 2: mk Melissa, First and foremost, CONGRATULATIONS! I can’t wait to read your book! I do have to ponder, though. It seems such a shame that folk like Mr. VdA don’t know the difference between working WITH your hero (or heroine) and working AGAINST her. Since you do know the difference, you get a lovely intro to your no-doubt wonderful and ORIGINAL book. He gets a well-deserved lawsuit which I am still hoping and praying he loses. I’m sure we will soon be treated to some snarky remarks from him as soon as he can glom on to some half-witted reporter. On p. 3: "I still think it’s sad that the admins of sites like this piggyback so desperately on the success of J.K. Rowling and have tried to become miniature celebrities themselves. To me, the only exciting things about this book are that Rowling has written the foreword and has an interview. I might read parts of it to glean that information alone, but I’ll probably just check it out of a library. Sorry, but Melissa hasn’t earned my money. Takes more than merely writing about a fandom to do that. :P" *waits with bourbon* ETA: Our mutual friend has started responding. Wank baiter? Or sincere Ass? Hard to say. C. Cox: Well quigger, the simple fact is that we wouldn’t know who any of these people were if it wasn’t for JKR. It’s because of her talent that these other people are clamoring to be a part of the spotlight. And they’ve done it without a single original thought. Everything here is based on JKR’s ideas, which, granted, are themselves based on old mythology and legends and such. But still. :P And the charity giving is nice, but that’s completely not the point I’m making. ;) Also style points to somone posting as FreeSteveVanderArk: What’s the big deal, I already get that and more on at hp-lexicon.org |
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fandom_lounge [ annabelle_lee ] |
3:07p | This is possibly a crazy question, but... Are there any sane fans of ALW's Phantom of the Opera out there? I've been dying to find someone who is a) willing to chat with me about the London/Canadian version of the play, b) willing to take the play less seriously than most, and c) not batshit insane about either the Phantom or Raoul. Bonus points to those who don't go off into a tear about how Sarah Brightman sucks as Christine or how one stage adaption is better than the other. Current Mood: Needy-like Current Music: Phantom of the Opera - Masquerade |