Holy Serious Business, Batman!

And I'm looking for some feedback on it. I know what I did wrong with it, I just have to fix it today. Suggestions for a fair price would be very, very welcome.

Link to my personal journal here

I want to put it in some fan art shows, there are a couple coming up here in Perth in the next year.

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.

And the NuttyMadam reacts. Though sorry, there's no vid this time since she took it down. But here, have a transcription of the lost vid, courtesy of aegflota

We are all a bunch of meanies hiding away in this little club house of ours.

Smeyer Ego stroking.

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:

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.

I got this via winterlive on LJ here.

If you've got an old mp3 player or discman lying around, send it to belladonnalin. she's got a shelter, she's got homeless kids and every single kid in the entire world needs music.

quoth bella:

Doing the bus thing to work every day and walking through downtown every day would be a lot less pleasant if I didn't have the option to put on some music and drown out the world. Not because it's so terrible, but because there are days that I don't want to listen to other people's domestic disagreements or screaming about getting ripped off for their most recent hit. I don't want to listen to teenage girls talking about "she's a fucking ho, you know she slept with him and him and him." Sometimes, I just need to shut it out.

And then it hit me. If I feel like this, imagine how my kids at the homeless shelter feel. A lot of them don't just pass through downtown - they're there all day every day, this shit is their LIVES. They leave, sometimes, to go to school or a friends' house, but these are street kids living in the middle of all of the stuff that I try to screen out. And, for the most part, they have nothing.

All of my kids love music - it's one of our most frequent conversation points since they've found out that my tastes are pretty musically eclectic. A few months ago, Saturday nights were the nights that I would bring in my laptop and grab some donated blank CDs and the kids would burn music off my laptop so that they had new stuff to listen to. But they don't have portable mp3 players and both the boombox and the DVD-player-as-CD-player are sources of CONSTANT arguments because of musical differences.

Plus, school is starting soon and some of the ones still going to school could use an escape on the way to school, too.

So I'm thinking ... I know a lot of people. 200 and change, right up here. And a lot of ya'll upgrade your mp3 players or have basic players that you don't use anymore.

So, I was wondering - does anyone have any older mp3 players that they might think about donating? For this to work, I have to have enough that I can give one to each of the kids that is regularly spending the night, plus a few more for new kids coming in. So that would around 20 mp3 players of comparable size and whatever ... does that sound crazy?

I dunno, I figure it couldn't hurt to ask.

So. If you want to send mp3 players, email me at belladonnalin (at) gmail (dot) com for the address. Or, for those of you who have mentioned that you are interested in donating, paypal it to me at info@kibblecab.com or use the donate button below (my PayPal is down, so I'm using Bean's business account that she's NOT using right now).

More details at the link.

We seem to have decided discussion posts are okay but nobody's posted one yet, so here goes.

I'm thinking of writing something set in the early period of feudal Japan for NaNo 2008 but I'm struggling with how much Japanese to include. I don't want them to sound like Americans stuck in Japan but neither do I want to write like a retarded fangirl. Their names will obviously be Japanese, but then how much further do I go? Is the Fox Clan alright or should the clan name be in Japanese too? Should I use the honorifics(-sama, -san, etc)?

The general problem is, how much of a foreign language is flavor and how much is just stupid? If you've got examples of books that handle this problem well, please share!

(Also psht, month's almost over people. Be nice and hurry to have a look at the posts you haven't commented on. It's OK if you don't have much CC to offer, just give your opinion.)

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....

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.

Furry Art Pile, aka FAP (I see whut u did thar!) is was a knockoff of and competitor to the frequently wanky FurAffinity art site. FA, if you've been living under a rock, is itself a knockoff of DeviantArt, except with more drawings of Simba fucking a triceratops.

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:

• donation wank
• TOLD U SO
• and finally, popcorn

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

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

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!

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*)

Film critic James Berardinelli weighs in on, among other things, the rescheduling of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Star Trek, as well as the implications of these decisions.

(Now with fixed html)

Twilight "fan" video.

I kind of hope this doesn't become a habit for me.

A YouTuber found a glitch in the new Tiger Woods game that allows the player to walk on water.

The response from EA Sports.

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."

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.

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.

( No it's not a Harry Potter ripoff, but that doesn't stop Warner Brothers.  )

At least they're not suing preteens for running fansites.