november 11th, 2009
9:04pm: cue the commentroversy!
In a fit of gleeful shit-stirring, Cute Overload has once again done the unthinkable and posted a picture of a human baby.
The comments thus far are split between the predictable whining of CO's hardline childfree population, and mass piss-taking and/or preemptive counter-whining by everybody else. It probably isn't a full-fledged wank yet, but given what happened last time they posted a human baby, it's only a matter of time.
november 12th, 2009
12:04am: 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.
november 11th, 2009
1:13pm: 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!
10:50am: I didn't realise I had to do a degree in everything to have an opinion
The Takarazuka Revue is an all-female Japanese musical troupe, recently involved in some unfunnybusiness involving a girl expelled from a music school. And all is right (wrong?) in the unfunny world.
Until someone speaks up and asks: "Is this like...the Japanes equivalent of the Pussy Cat Dolls?"
AAAAAAND WE'RE OFF!
"I love this community, use the word girl and you have 20 people jumping over you for being sexist, use the word skanky in a conversation with someone who made an honest mistake, then it's all OK."
Actually, this has kind of happened before.
Remember kids, Poor Communication Kills. Or something. Also, believe in magic.
ETA: "I'm just curious, why is racism becoming such a taboo topic on Fandom Wank, well, apart from the fact that people are getting burnt out by hearing about the subject." (from ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
white_serpent)
ETA2: Somehow, the entry tags are strangely appropriate. (from galateus)
8:23am: 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. )
2:33pm: Twilight really does get everywhere
Even in the original sparkly fandom, the question cannot be avoided: Team Jacob, or Team Edward?
current mood: *sporfle!*
november 10th, 2009
9:48pm: Snacky says his name is 'Hocaine'
I did something I'm not too proud of today, flist. I'm told confession is good for the soul, so here it is. Please don't judge me too harshly:
I was so desperate for science-type crime shows today to make up for my months long dry spell, I uh, I bought a season of CSI: Miami.
I'd make a pun here and take off my glasses, but I suck at those so let's just say I did and call it even.
5:11pm: Quite possibly the RPattz photo to end all RPattz photos.
December's Vanity Fair RPattz photo spread, courtesy of Dlisted.
Seriously, I'm pretty sure dude is just trolling now.
2:22pm: 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.
12:32am:
There are two different reference to the Twilight trilogy in the World of Warcraft. I am ashamed of my addiction.
The Twilight Tome, flavor text: "Just holding this heavy and unwieldy tome makes you feel a little clumsy...."
Rituals of the New Moon which you can use to turn into a giant wolf.
november 9th, 2009
8:02pm: Whoa.
I just remembered the Cereal Convention plotline in Sandman and now am creating crossovers in my head with Dexter. And/or Serial-Killer!Tony Dinozzo.
Oh, brain.
7:17pm: Heads up: Jensen Ackles and Danneel Harris officially engaged
Tiny bit of the usual wanking so far with Danneel hate and a bit of tinhattery.
Rumors crop up now and then that Jensen and Danneel are engaged, but this appears to be the real deal.
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/11/09/j
I myself know nothing about Danneel Harris other than she and Jensen have known each other for years and dating for three years. But they seem happy and I wish them luck in the future.
But there will be wank.
Who's Stephanie?
11:41pm: 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... )
3:11pm: Spoilers: as always, very serious business
WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS FOR EVERY SINGLE BIT OF MEDIA PRODUCED SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME IN THE COMMENTS. SPOILERPHOBES, BEWARE!
Over in fanficrants, auburnmaven posts a rant about being spoiled for an anime series by reading the summary of a fic. Discussion ensues.
The highlight is this thread, featuring noracharles (My point is, I think it's perfectly reasonable and doable to want to avoid spoilers, and to therefore stay away from places where spoilers are likely to be found. In smaller fandoms it can be difficult, but that's life.) and feywood (That's life? Oh that's the lamest excuse ever. "I'm sorry, we'll have to chop your hand off, but that's life." "I'm sorry, you'll have to warn for spoilers till perpetuity, but that's life.").
12:12pm: SPN Meltdown?
So apparently Jensen and Danneel are engaged. And yet, the Internet has yet to explode. Are the SPN fangirls on vacation or something??
4:45pm: Ramblings
So today marks the 20th aniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. What this means for me is that I've been alternatively blubbering and feeling really old whenever I watch the news, which is usually three to four times a day, sigh.
I have a very vivid memory of watching the wall fall, live on the news. It wasn't the first time I became aware that the world was bigger than, like, my immediate family (that was Chernobyl, which I don't recall seeing on the news, but I do remember my mum and gran talking about the potential fallout), but it was the first time I felt actually connected to current events. It's also one of the few really vivid memories I have from before I was about ten -- I can still easily recall sitting crosslegged on the floor in front of the couch, watching the telly.
(I actually spent years convinced this had to be an inaccurate memory, because the wall fell around 10 PM, which was way past my bed time, surely? Except it was a Thursday, so I would've been up late to watch Dallas anyway, and my parents confirmed that they'd have let me stay up to watch something this historical if I wanted to.)And then I became a news junkie in the worst way for the next decade or so, until 9/11 somewhat overdosed me on it and the subsequent Bush shenanigans forced me to put myself on a restricted news diet for a while, sigh.
But to return to my orginal point: Yaye 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall! Excuse me while I go be easily manipulated and blubber some more.
current mood: working
9:40am:
Aw, yesterday was my birthday and I was so busy I totally forgot to delete f_w or ban anyone or do anything fun like that!
Sorry, guys! There's always next year, I suppose. ;)
9:46am:
There was this Academic Wank some time back. There was two historians (I think, maybe they were English Academics) who were releasing a biography of the same poet at the same time because it was 100 year anniversary of his death.
One of them managed to fake up an "originally, never before published" poem of the writer, and planted it with a woman who managed to convince the other that it had been written by the poet and handed down through the family. He published it, and three days or so after the book came out, the first academic revealed the hoax, and that if you read the first letter of each line of the poem it spelled out something like "this other academic is a wanker".
Does anyone else remember this? I did some poking around, but I can't find it yet. If you have any idea where I could find the details, I'd really appreciate it.