NYTimes – Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?

A little something to contrast with the Rebecca Tushnet NPR interview: the NY Times has a story about reading on the Internet, and their Everyfamily includes a 15-year-old daughter who reads fanfiction.

And, look, I don’t mean any disrespect to this girl. I really don’t. But since the media is going to bump into fandom no matter what fandom does, who would you rather see them talk to? A law professor who teaches at Georgetown Law and has been a clerk for the United States Supreme Court, or a high schooler who can’t spell the word “dying” correctly?

For those of you who don’t have NYTimes.com accounts, the full article follows.

This Week, 7/21-7/27

Coming this September to ComixTalk: the cover (i.e., the site’s header image) will be drawn by yours truly!

Fake News
Sketches & mix covers (art, through PG-13)

Strangers With Candy
Five Times Seamus Noblet Spent With His Father (fic, PG-13)

Witch Hunter Robin
A group of fans are getting together to watch and discuss the WHR series, episode by episode. Check it out!

Next Week in Shine:
Shirtless catboy vampire battle. YOU HEARD ME.

Original
Featured on The Scienteers: the CCP, including some of my art!

I went on reading; and, since if you read enough books you overflow, I eventually became a writer. (Terry Pratchett)

Just another meme making the Internet rounds.

Name a fandom (you can figure out my major ones; my LJ interests and this page have some of the more obscure), and I’ll tell you my:

One True Pairing Ship:
Canon Ship:
“If this happens I’ll stab my eyes out with a spork” Ship:
“You are one sick bastard” Ship:
“I dabble a little” Ship:
“It’s like a car crash” Ship:
“Tickles my fancy but not sold just yet” Ship:
“Makes no canon sense but why the Hell not” Ship:
“Everyone else loves it but I just don’t feel it” Ship:

Fandom news!

Fallout from this interview is hitting the Interwebs.

For a snapshot of ten years of media fandom history, and why our collective increased visibility is not The End Of Fandom As We Know It, read over here.

If you’re concerned about your personal privacy, check out these simple steps.

In unrelated news, someone writes fic reviews and someone else is upset, leading to a refreshingly righteous rant that there is no universal definition of civility and a semi-related discussion of how concrit is darn hard to give.

Many of the posts on this subject (metafandom has more) have a chorus of commenters exclaiming, “Where are these people who give criticism, and how can I get them to read my fic?” Count me in.

This Week, 7/14-7/20

I’m back! (Not that, what with the free wireless at the library by the beach, you even noticed I was gone.)

Fake News
(but he can’t hide) (fic, R)

Hellsing
London: In Memoriam (mix, worksafe)

Marimite
dark-colored school uniforms (mix, instrumental)

Crossovers
At the Eager Young Space Cadet was featured by DeviantART in the Hidden Gems of Fan Art series!
Don’t Step On The Butterflies (TCR/Doctor Who, comic, PG)

Next Week in Shine:
There’s a demon from Hell in the middle of England! And, even more shockingly, she has bigger breasts than Seras!

When the Devil goes bald, there will be hell toupee

If there are one or more people on your friends list reading your blog who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

—

I’ve been running the Bechdel test ever since I heard of it, which has injected a note of sadness into things I wish I could just unabashedly love. (I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, anyone?) Turns out film schools teach writers not to pass it. Hiss.

On a happier note: Fanfiction discussed on NPR. Featuring an interviewer who is not hung up on “omg how weird is this?”, speaking to an academic researcher who very clearly Knows Of What She Speaks.

And these family-friendly gay cruises are just heartwarming.

Closin’ tabs.

Buddhism may be dying out in Japan. And part of the problem may be commercialization. Does that mean it’s time for a Buddhist Martin Luther?

Oh, and they found a cool rock that either predicts Jesus or shows that Jesus was just cashing in on the buzz of the time, depending on how you want to interpret it.

Some rumination on how it’s darned hard to make jokes about Obama. I almost always laugh when TDS and TCR rag on him, but so much of the audience resists it—well, Jon comments on that in the article. (And Maureen Dowd brings some delicious snark.)

Schools are using more forcible restraint on problem kids. Most cringe-worthy line: “And the children, who have an array of psychiatric diagnoses, from attention deficit to autism, often do not understand what is happening or why.”

For something more thoughtful and less stomach-churning, check out this psychiatrist’s consideration of when to give out his email to patients. Also, therapists can have trouble dealing with rich people.

And on a brighter note entirely, Massachusetts is on the verge of knocking down yet another marriage-related limit, partly because recent developments in California have revealed that same-sex marriage brings the cash. We get rights, the state gets money . . . everybody wins!

Finally: Is it just me, or is this reviewing a book of RPF about Laura Bush?

Teaser snippet meme

If you happen to be working on some creative writing project, fanfiction or NaNoWriMo or what have you, post exactly one sentence/paragraph/whatever from each of your current work(s) in progress in your journal. It should probably be your favourite or most intriguing sentence so far, but what you choose is entirely your discretion. Mention the title (and genre) if you like, but don’t mention anything else — this is merely to whet the general appetite for your forthcoming work(s).

I’ve included comics and mixes too, for maximum fandom variety.

This Week, 7/7-7/13

Sorry this is late; I got back Saturday night, but I’ve been playing catch-up ever since. (We sealed a roof and built a whole new classy deck. Pictures when I’ve got ‘em.)

I am, once again, off, this time to vacation with the grandparents. Internet access is likely but not assured. Stay tuned.

Fake News
Kiss You Where It Hurts: the story (R), the art (NSFW), the step-by-step (ditto)

Hellsing
Arr, Captain (arrrrrt, worksafe)

Marimite
Otaku USA #7 includes a free sample from the official Marimite sub! (The full first season will be out in two weeks.)

Next Week in Shine:
The Alucard fans arrive, and Schroedinger comes face to face with . . . himself?

This Week, 6/29-7/6

As mentioned earlier, I’ll be Internet-free in rural Tennessee until Saturday. See y’all on the flip side.

Emma
The Season 1 box set is out . . . but with mono audio. A disc-replacement plan is in the works, but if you haven’t bought your set yet, hold off for a while.

Fake News
Stephen with his Best Friend Fysicist (art, worksafe)
Snow White Syndrome (comic, G)
Wrapped In The Flag (art, PG-13)

Hellsing
OVA V set to be produced by Madhouse. Distribution, meanwhile, has been snapped up by FUNimation.
Shiny new OVA-based evidence in The Case for AxI.
Chapter 93 scanlated by Hiranomoe!

Crossovers
Drawing The Line (fic, fake news/Harvey Birdman/Tek Jansen/The Ambiguously Gay Duo, TV-14) episodes 1.11, 1.12 (with video!), official soundtrack
The Virus (art, Chobits/ReBoot, worksafe)

Next Week in Shine:
While Integra and Alucard spar, the other two threads of our three-part plot crash headlong into each other.

Original:
Improvement Over Time (art, very very worksafe)