Thursday night. Hot.

[cleolinda]

Hmm. Seems to be a quiet day for news. Not that I mind; it's hot as Satan's underwear down here. Went swimming again today; managed not to burn.

Triple-digit temperatures broil Southeast U.S. YEAH THEY DO. I will say, if such a thing could be seen as a positive, the heat today was at least something of a dry heat, and there was an actual breeze around 3 pm.

Re: Strikethrough Part 2: Electric Boldfontaloo: The Terrible Secret of Livejournal. Which is something I've wished people would realize for a long time. To wit: "Because a significant fraction of fandom material (NOT just the lunatic fringe) really is illegal"--and the writer here is just talking about current copyright laws, not even the pornography issue, child or otherwise--"it's impossible for Six Apart to give fandom what fandom wants." Of course, Six Apart is still handling the whole situation pretty badly (favorite boneheaded move: pro-anorexia comms are A-OK!), but: still.

Study finds twist in human evolution.

Police find $66m stolen Picassos.

Suspected hit man nabbed -- wearing a dress.

I HAS MINIONS.

Over at ursulav's: "All those handy soaps are not quite available to order, but the charming Ellen Million would like to gauge some interest so she knows how much to order! So if you're interested in any of the Elder [God] Soap, Naked Mole Rat Soap, or Savage Orange, boogie on over to Ellen's poll and let her know!"

From penmage: an overview of what they've done to The Dark Is Rising.

Back to movie adaptations that appear not to suck: I just realized why, in part, Movie!Pantalaimon is so adorable--Freddie Highmore is doing the voice.

Spider-Pig: The Choral Version.

Update on yesterday's Cloverfield spoiler article: Uh-Oh - Paramount Lawyers Confirm Cloverfield/Cheese Call-Sheet is REAL.

New 'Iron Man' Photo.

William Hurt Set To Take On Julie Delpy's ‘The Countess.’

Michellle Monaghan to join Shia LaBeouf and Rosario Dawson in Eagle Eye.

Darabont Talks The Mist.

Indiana Jones 4 poster.

See, IGN likes Stardust, too. Also: five minutes of video interviews with Neil Gaiman, Matthew Vaughn, Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I'm sorta darkly amused by 6A's plan of attack ("Do the right thing, but do it as badly as possible"), being only barely involved in fandom. They're interfering where legally required (and kiddie porn, even artistic interpretations thereof, under US law, require some occasionally-drastic actions on the behalf of the content provider), and in the case of the anorexics, that's actually a knock against them in fandom's eyes. They can't win, I understand that, but they aren't doing themselves any favor in the PR wars after the Emboldening, are they? Sheesh. The former mightygodking (casualty in part of the early Deathly Hallows review, now syndicated as mighty_god_king) has a good take on it (http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2007/08/09/oh-god-just-stop-already/).

My dream showdown: SixApart versus the furries. It would be nothing short of hysterical, in every sense of the word.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

"Do the right thing, but do it as badly as possible"--that's a pretty good way of summing it up. Thing is, I think a lot of fandomers are having a hard time seeing it as "the right thing" in the first place, and I thought the "Terrible Secret" article did a good job of attempting to impose some perspective--from a pro-fandom blogger, even.

Speaking of furries--someone (in that article? Elsewhere? I can't remember) suggested that, if fandom drags this too far into the light, it's going to turn into the general fandom/fanfic/fanart equivalent of Furries on CSI--mainstream America is going to become aware of them, and they're going to be boiled down to the worst possible stereotype.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Yeah, by no means am I a 6A fan -- I've horcruxed myself into Dead, Insane and GreatestJournals, just in case, and when my paid time expires I don't see me renewing it -- but I'm not going to fault them for interfering when legally obligated to, or not interfering when not legally obligated to.

And yet I can't stop expecting the worst from them.

The Terrible Secret bit (pak chooie (http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/terriblesecret) unf? (http://www.somethingawful.com/d/icq-pranks/icq-transcript-space.php)) hits the most important notes (actually, MGK (http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2007/08/08/on-livejournal-and-sixapart-and-all-that-for-once-and-for-all/) and synecdochic hit similar (http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/147625.html) or at least nearby points well, too). It's just that even though the aggrieved fandom has less of an argument, they are impassioned and fervent and vociferous when 6A is quiet and catty. Do you think Yeats was writing about the Boldening? (http://www.thebeckoning.com/poetry/yeats/yeats5.html)

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

Did Ponderosa draw that, too? Or maybe Yeats sees more in Snape playing the Harryflute than I did in my accidental glance.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

I've horcruxed myself into Dead, Insane and GreatestJournals
Ha ha ha ha!! Oh, that's awesome.

[lauramcvey.livejournal.com]

Is that what happened? I saved mightygodking's review back when I first read it, but the page could not be displayed when I went back to it.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

His take (http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2007/08/08/on-livejournal-and-sixapart-and-all-that-for-once-and-for-all/). Harry Potter was strike two; his Improved Archie community was strikes one and three.

[tabbyclaw.livejournal.com]

"Study finds twist in human evolution" isn't showing up as a link for me.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Fixed.

[poinsley.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the Terrible Secret of Livejournal link - he expressed it very well.

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

I thought the Terrible Secret of Livejournal article was interesting. Thanks for posting it.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hey, did you see the new pic of the Tonner Elizabeth doll?

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

I did, what did you think?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I was kind of disappointed, actually. Particularly in the dress.

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

Me too, I think. It's seems kind of plain or something. I don't know...

[vampirepig13.livejournal.com]

It may be as hot as Satan's underpants there, but it's as wet as Satan's underpants on a particularly rainy day here.

State of emergency in the City of Pittsburgh, woo.

[poinsley.livejournal.com]

Wow, really? I just moved from there. Granted, it's not dry at all in Central PA.

[vampirepig13.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Friggin' siding came off about three stories of the Science Center; Sharpsburg, Millvale and Export are flooded...It's amazing. We're supposed to get hit again tonight, too.

[poinsley.livejournal.com]

Damn. Sounds like the insane rain we got back in September of '04 that had been Hurricane Ivan at one point.

[vampirepig13.livejournal.com]

Something like that, yep. Check out the Weather Channel, it's a pretty impressive system. They even used pink in the news graphics!

[miladygrey.livejournal.com]

Will's going to be an alienated American teen with a crush? Hawkin's new name is Walker, and he's played by who? The Black Rider has a white horse and a feather-trimmed cape? Merlin and the Lady are going to sparkle?

Stupid Hollywood morons, ruining my childhood reading. *weeps*

[eruvadhril.livejournal.com]

Merlin and the Lady are going to sparkle?
Them and their magical mace and sword-cane, respectively. Also, the entire Stanton family hate one another and Will has a twin brother being held hostage by the Dark.

[v827.livejournal.com]

I am enjoying unreasonably much that the URL for the twist in human evolution ends in "human_evolution_2".

[halona.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I've seen this (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/09/news/tornado.php) story mentioned very briefly in the news and I had to dig for it a little to find it online. Basically, a tornado hit Brooklyn Wednesday morning at 7AM and no one's talking about it. Why?

[jessica551155.livejournal.com]

It wasn't all that big of a deal, as tornadoes go, no one was killed, and the fact that the transit system went boom b/c of the rain was a bigger deal to most everyone here, I think, so maybe it just doesn't make news. But the NY tabs and the Times (which owns the Herald) had articles (and, of course, big pictures with stupid headlines for the tabloids) on it, if you're interested. (I live in brooklyn and work in a reading room that gets a ton of papers each day, so my views on coverage are admittedly skewed.)


And just wait, a fundie will pick up on it and declare it's because of teh gays, or SIN, or whatever else is going on in our little cesspool of godlessness.

[gravities.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the Terrible Secret article. I was fairly upset about the anorexia stuff (I posted about it) because I couldn't figure out why LJ would police fanart on moral grounds but not pro- communities (why were fictional children getting priority over real children). I think they'd have a real mess on their hands if pro-anorexia on LJ (or pro-Nazism, which apparently also exists here) ever became a national story, but I guess they'd have a legal leg to stand on.

Their ham handed comments are pretty disgusting, though, and they absolutely cannot stop contradicting their own TOS in their answers to abuse reports.

I don't even want to look at the TDIR link. Sadface.

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they don't handle it well, even though I agree with their policy. They have a legal obligation to get rid of illegal content when they discover it, but they don't go looking. The TOS says "unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive to another's privacy (up to, but not excluding any address, email, phone number, or any other contact information without the written consent of the owner of such information), hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;" is not allowed. The debate becomes, are pro-ana comms harmful? I think most of us would argue "yes", but I think most of their users would argue "no".
It also says "any Content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party;" is in violation of the TOS, which could arguably include all fanfic, so I think that they try to stay as hands-off as they can. The TOS says that they don't police content, and that they aren't responsible for it but will get rid of stuff if they're shown it. And also that they can delete your journal for any reason, including because you looked at them cross-eyed.
Really, I think we're all better off if LJ tried to enforce the TOS as little as possible, but it is frustrating when certain subsets of users seem targeted for TOSing more than others, and when the actual LJ staff don't seem to know what the TOS says.

[newsong.livejournal.com]

You know, for people who probably didn't read the terms of service before they clicked the Accept button, everyone's sure whining a lot about the whole LJ thing.

The only thing I find interesting as an artist is who is making the call on the artistic merit of fanart. Sure, I don't think a whole lot of fanart has artistic merit by my standards, even speaking as a part of fandom. But the fact that LJ chose to include that in their clarification makes me raise an eyebrow.

Still, you honestly gave LJ the right to delete your account when you signed up. Plain and simple. LJ and pretty much every other major site you've ever signed up for.

[moosl.livejournal.com]

... it's hot as Satan's underwear ...

I had not heard that one before. Where and when did you acquire it?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I just kind of... said it, I don't know. I think I was trying to get "hot as Hades" and "hot as a crotch" into one sentence.

[ladyvoldything.livejournal.com]

"You should try going to Tasmania- it's lovely and cool down here. Of course, the gale-force winds are a bit of a drag, as is the almost total lack of internet (I dictated this reply to a friend in Wisconsin), but I'm sure you'd manage. XD"

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

I think something went wrong with the last link since I haven't posted Stardust interviews. :)
I don't know if that was the link you wanted to use, but you can find some here (http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_ezine&task=read&page=2&category=19&article=3029).

But much more important, thank you very much for the 'The terrible secret of LJ' link. It reflects a lot of my own thoughts and it has the added benefit that it also acknowledges the fact that 6A behaved very amateurish in a lot of instances that could've easily been avoided.

daemons

[glyphs.livejournal.com]

So, after seeing the trailer for The Golden Compass in the theatre when my mom and I saw Hairspray, I decided to read the book(s). I just finished the Golden Compass today and started the Subtle Knife. Liking it so far but with the feeling of apprehension you get from some books where you just know stuff you're going to hate will happen. So, anyway, I finally checked out the official movie site and ended up doing the What is your daemon? test. Apparently, my daemon is a spider... I HATE spiders. Like the one creature that just totally freaks me out? Yeah, spiders. How does that work?

Re: daemons

[miladygrey.livejournal.com]

You get the option to post your daemon into your LJ, and your friends can look at it and do a little Q&A about how well your daemon fits you. Their answers are quite likely to change your daemon into a new shape. *grins* Mine started as an ocelot and bounced through eagle, hare, and ermine before going back to ocelot and staying.

[xblackrose666x.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Indiana Jones, LEGO is coming out with a Indy line. It's probably to correspond with the movie release, it's definitely not out until next year.

I've seen pictures of the Indy minifig, he looks awesome.

Video game (http://www.lucasarts.com/games/legoindianajones/), also out next year.

[eruvadhril.livejournal.com]

Heeee. It's called "The Seeker" now. This is gonna be fun.

I just realized why, in part, Movie!Pantalaimon is so adorable--Freddie Highmore is doing the voice.
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODWIN.

[theevilgenius.livejournal.com]

As a resident of South Carolina (though, thankfully, not quite in the midlands of Columbia), I sympathize with all sufferers of the heat. And I tell you, it's times like this when I would heartily move to Seattle.

And, go figure, the one week in the entire year when the Northeast is hotter than the Southeast was the week I was on vacation in the Northeast.

[cosette-esk.livejournal.com]

OMG icon love!

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

I just realized why, in part, Movie!Pantalaimon is so adorable--Freddie Highmore is doing the voice.
Awww! I really like Pan, too. I just finished Book One (of TGC, I mean) yesterday.

Nice IGN review of Stardust! It seems to be getting pretty good reviews.

Additionally, there are some spectacular scenes of action and adventure -- including a swordfight with a "dead" body that will surely rank as one of 2007's most inventive sequences.
Hell yeah!

[jennnk.livejournal.com]

Note to self: Coldplay is a bad choice for karaoke (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/327017_karaoke10.html), at least in Seattle if not everywhere.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Some Friday hilarity:

Summaries of and excerpts from Chinese counterfeit Harry Potter books (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/opinion/10potter.html?_r=1&oref=slogin).

Harry Potter and the Big Funnel

After six years at Hogwarts, Harry Potter becomes an intern sorcerer and is assigned to teach at the Honiton School. Harry has a painful time in his aunt’s house, as Dudley has met a belly-dancing girl. As Harry prepares to report to his job, Bat Bug warns him disaster awaits.

At the school, his students become wooden stools one after another. Harry doesn’t know whether an evil student is behind this, or if his old benefactor Hagrid is making a mistake, or if the shadow of Voldemort has returned. Did it have something to do with the big funnel?

[soleta-nf.livejournal.com]

That sounds like baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad fanfic.

[mysticowl.livejournal.com]

Have you read Steven King's review of Deathy Hallows (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20044270_20044274_20050689,00.html)? There's some interesting and witty criticism of early reviews. Plus, really funny illustrations, including one of Lewis Carroll's Alice reading HP.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee, yeah, I read it this morning. It's funny that he said she was as good as Martin Amis, because Martin Amis is exactly who I mentioned the other week in conversation--the idea that she might not be as "good" a writer as Amis, but if she can set millions of readers on fire, she must be better in a different way. So when King was all like, "And she's at least as good as Martin Amis now," I literally blurted out "OH SNAP" as I was sitting at the computer.