Wow, lots of stuff

[kowaiyoukai]

EDIT: FUCK, I NEED A DAMN BSG ICON. :(

Okay, lots of stuff happened recently. So, fandom things first? YES.

I must go and read all of hd_worldcup. I mean, the amount of talent there is consistently blowing me away. So, before I leave for this semester, I'm going to have to print it all out and get some binders to continue my binded system of cataloging great HD fics.

Specifically, everyone look at this: http://hdworldcup.onnedhiel.net/teamfanon/these_five_years.html - Team Fanon outdid themselves this time, I must say. ^_^* Although, I didn't have sound, so I can only wonder if there was sound or not. :P

ALSO. I must start binding fics from other fandoms. I started looking through randomly printed out fics in my room the past few days, and I gotta say, DAMN. Some of that shit is FUCKING GOOD. Particularly some of the RoyEd, KuroFai, Sasunaru, and wincest. YES. <3

Apparently, remixredux08 is now open, and again I missed signups. I swear to God, I am going to start finding these things early enough to do them. Remixredux rocks b/c of things like this: http://community.livejournal.com/remixredux08/77419.html#cutid1 !! ^_^*

Oh, other fics I need to bind are what Maya's been putting out on her LJ. Like seriously and pawhat.

This whole finding fics thing makes me think I should keep an ongoing list of fic recs. It's getting to be that point now. I think I've still got someone on some HD comm waiting for some recs from me. I guess I should do that. :P

I was about to list more fics I need to get, and then I was like, fuck it. Too long.

ITACHI IS REALLY GOOD. I am alternating between this sucking and rocking. I think it more sucks. I'd have liked him to be selfish, now I'm prepared for some martyr shit that we get from everyone all the time. Le sigh.

Did there used to be an amazing weekly drabble thingy comm? Did this used to be in existence? awdt must be joined by me. YES. I'm joining and writing some fucking drabbles. DAMMIT. -_-;;

And my original thingy needs to get worked on, Sa and I thought up the most awesomest plot ever for it, and I need to edit the beginning and write about ten two-page essays for class tomorrow. Also, I'm supposed to be running around campus putting up flyers now, but we can all see that I'm clearly not doing that.

Downloading BSG and SPN is a pain in the ass. Also, it sucks when the pics from Tsubasa and xxxHolic don't save properly. Also, I need to make more AMVs. Also, I think I pissed off my therapist today. I told him he did nothing to help me in any way. Oh well. I've only got three free sessions left this year anyway. We'll see how it goes.

Also!! Neil Gaiman comments on the JKR lawsuit here: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/04/fair-use-and-other-things.html. Personally, I feel like JKR should stop being so fucking irritating. Does she honestly think any HP realted book that she writes is NOT going to sell? Come on. I'm more likely to ignore his book and buy hers, even if his comes out first. She's being petty and anti her own fans, just like when she bitched about fanfic. Shut the fuck up and deal with the side-effects of fame, moron. *headdesk*

Not lj-cutting b/c I feel like spamming everyone. Especially since SOMEONE *coughkyosanimebitchcough* put up horrible Bleach cosplay pics that NO ONE WANTS TO SEE. -_-;;

^_^*

Comments

[ice-is-blue.livejournal.com]

hd_worldcup generated over 2 million words of fic (they said) for this round. (Print small and double-sided, I think.)

These Five Years does have sound. But. I listened to it without the sound first, and then with... and I prefer without. The sound is a classical music track and is looped funny, and was not one of my faves. (I do like instrumental music, soundtracks, etc.) So, I don't think it added anything to the pictures (which were utterly gorgeous). Unless the title of the musical piece added something, but, as I didn't recognize it enough to identify it...

I also forgot to add that Painless_J on LJ runs a rec list and usually pimps whatever fic fests are going on at the time (during signups and posting).

Um. Re: the lawsuit against Vander Ark, or whatever his name is... It's actually in the fans' best interests that she wins, as she won't have to increase protections (crack down on fansites and fanfic) on her work.

There's a big long saga of news that's happened before this even went to trial. And RDR Books, which is who I think is most at fault, is not smelling of roses in this. They mainly produce -travel guides- and -travel humor- to like Italy and stuff, if I remember correctly... and the publication of something like this seems very out of the ordinary for them.... which set off my 'they're doing it just for the money' sensors. Their publishing list is incredibly short and pathetic, IMO.

Moreover, to my understanding, JKR knew the Lexicon would be based off of the website. The website is complete and utter plagiarism. Organized, yes, but an absolute rip-off. (Have you looked at the online Lexicon? It's 85% quotes.) Vander Ark knew in advance that JKR was planning her own encyclopedia and had requested that others not publish in advance of hers. (And she had already stated previously that profits from the encyclopedia would be donated to charity, just as with the Magical Beasts and Quidditch books.)

JKR's lawyers asked, in advance of publication, to see an outline/summar of the book and received nothing in response, despite several letters... which may or may not have devolved to RDR sending something rude.

There is a clause in Vander Ark's contract that says RDR Books has to foot his legal bill.

Other literature criticism and/or encyclopedia books exist out there, but they are either A) predominantly essays, B) about non-print media (tv shows), or C) encyclopedias about a world, like Star Wars, where there are multiple writers and one dude in charge, Lucas.

Now, Lucas is on my shit list for degrading Episodes I-II for money/greed purposes.... but he's still got a point. There is no 'unofficial Star Wars encyclopedia' Why? It's -his- world. I've seen a book called 'The Metaphysics of Star Wars' but, that -adds- to his world and critiques it. It's not a listing of who's in Gryffindor House during which year.

Vander Ark knew there would be a shit storm from this, I don't see much original content provided by him slated for the book, so I'm not inclined to sympathize with him. It's great that he created the Lexicon. It's a good site, and it should be allowed to exist. Praised, even. Because it was a free resource. (And could even generate some revenue for him if he put up online ads, which I think he doesn't.)

But then he (RDR Books) went to make money off of it. And that, in my book, is a major, major no-no.

(Just my $0.02... or $2.00, as the length may indicate.)

More Info ($0.02 part two)

[ice-is-blue.livejournal.com]

This article, by the Leaky Cauldron, gives a good summary of what's going on. I also agree strongly with comments made by rotfang07.

The online Lexicon was free. The print Lexicon is a cash-cow and publicity grab for RDR Books and/or Vander Ark. At one point, Vander Ark / RDR Books said that the Lexicon was being put into print because some people didn't have internet access (here in the states and elsewhere). Arguably, those same people probably don't have money for two encyclopedias.

Money JKR makes from her encyclopedia will go to charity. SVA's will go into his pocket; and the people who helped create the online Lexicon get nothing, as well.

OKAY. Here's the biggie. Through the glory that is the internet and modern legal practices..... I've -SEEN- Vander Ark's book in PDF format. I can even tell you where to get it... more on that later. What I will point out is that the very first frickin' page has the following statement:

All the information in the Harry Potter Lexicon comes from J. K. Rowling, either in the novels, the ‘schoolbooks,’ from her interviews, or from material which she developed or wrote herself. The novels are abbreviated as indicated on the list below, with a chapter number following. Page numbers are not used as pagination varied between editions.

The book is 99.5% poorly attributed quotation, and perhaps 0.5% commentary, along the lines of 'the word ____ has linguistic roots in ____.'

The bulk of the book-to-be-that-should-not-be can be seen here.
The majority of it seems to be in Attachments 2-5.

Personally? I would not buy this book, nor even find it useful. It's in strict A-Z format, unlike the website that is grouped by similar types of information. Granted, this could be worked around by indexes and appendices, but I didn't see those in the PDF. Still, given the text itself, the website has much more information on it, and is free.

Vander Ark is committing 100% (or 99.5% if you must) plagiarism and regardless of how much money JKR has or might make or might not make, he (and RDR Books) do not have the right to profit from her world and creation without putting in creative and/or critical effort of their own. Period. End of story.

^_^; Um ^_____^ I'm really not meaning to bash you over the head with this... I just feel really strongly.

Re: More Info ($0.02 part two)

[kowaiyoukai.livejournal.com]

LOL

Well, at least you know where you stand. :P

Personally, I don't care which way it goes. I mean, I think I'd be honored if someone made an encylodpedia with my original stuff if/when I got published. I do think the Lexicon is a good website, and I also think he did a lot of work compiling everything together, so why not get some money for that, especially considering how many people use the Lexicon.

On the other hand, I also think authors should, generally, lighten up. JKR is not going to suffer at all from this book being published. So, what's the real issue here? Anyone who buys this book would, 99.9% of the time, have read the HP series and know who gets the credit for these ideas originally. No one is saying he created these ideas, just like he doesn't say that on the website.

Also, I think that putting "unauthorized" in front of this encyclopedia would help a lot on both sides.

But I'm sticking with my original idea. Every HP fan is going to be standing in line at midnight waiting to buy her encyclopedia. Some collectors will get the other guy's book, but I know I wouldn't buy it b/c I don't buy those cheesy books. Still, why not let him have a go? After all this controversy, a lot of people who might have originally bought it won't based on the principle of the thing.

Then again, I'm the sort of author who is absolutely thrilled with the idea of people making fanfiction of my own work. So yes.

Also: he should edit his book to take out more of her material since there's so much of it.

I honestly don't care that much either way. I mean, if him changing it will stop the hassle, I say change it. If plagiarism is really the issue here, then yes, change the damn book. But if the issue is more that JKR wants her encyclopedia to be published first (and perhaps be the only option), that's a different story. Either way, no one in the fandom has the full story, I can say that for certain.

Re: More Info ($0.02 part two)

[ice-is-blue.livejournal.com]

Either way, no one in the fandom has the full story, I can say that for certain.

I'm not entirely sure I agree with you on that. Certainly, we can't see inside these people's heads, but we can read their sworn testimonies...

The full court transcripts are up at the Leaky Cauldron and are identical to ones posted on the University of Stanford page.

I've read through all of day one, and the bulk of day two. (Three-day trial.)

Three more things to point out:
1) Vander Ark isn't being sued. RDR Books is.
2) The head of RDR Books, a Mr. Rapaport, is an utter, utter scumbag, as shown by his testimony.
3) Rapaport planned to release the printed version of The Lexicon from blank page to printed book for distribution in two months. Vander Ark and possibly four other people were to complete a 400 page manuscript in two weeks. Rapaport repeatedly ignored requests from lawyers to view the manuscript, he lied by saying that a family tragedy had stopped work on the book, Rapaport told the lawyers (finally) to just print out the Lexicon website (and still didn't send them the manuscript), meanwhile, he was selling rights to The Lexicon to publishers all over the fecking world and giving specific instructions not to share the manuscript with publisher who has published books by JKR, and flat out lied in an email by saying that JKR approved of the Lexicon and that it was authorized (after he'd been served cease and desist letters).

#3 was a doozy, sorry.

Borders and Barnes&Noble have said they won't carry the book. Good for them. But really, librarians are not often up on fan-attitude towards books (see the embracing of Cassandra Claire's published fiction work). Library orders for a book like this can be easily 3,000. (I know I'll be boycotting it, or will have to recuse myself if asked to order it.) Plus, there's publicity from this whole fiasco, which Rapaport probably wanted. And some people, grandparents I think, just won't know better.

The court transcript shows on a detailed level the degree of copying... and is a really, really fascinating read, actually.

As for money.... The two charity books JKR did, Fantastic Beasts and Quidditch Through the Ages... have much smaller sales than her novels. That said, they've raised over $30 million for the charity which receives her full portion of royalties from the sales. The Lexicon entries, as they are, remove the need entirely for people to buy copies of the books. One of the books, I forget which, but they're both around 54 pages, has had 200 entries pulled from it. 200. And descriptive language was definitely lifted in bulk.

*shrugs*

It's not necessarily a case of her not being flattered. Court cases can be used to set precedence, and if this book goes through in its current incarnation with such pervasive copying of language with no added benefits, that stands as a springboard to -no- author's work being safe from financial pilfering. For JKR, that's a drop in the bucket, or a drop in the bucket of her charity.... but for a less famous author (which is -everyone- else)?

I agree. If the book's rewritten to utilize less borrowed language and/or added to so that it adds to her works, she (et. al.) wouldn't have a leg to stand on to block it. On the witness stand, Vander Ark proved he was able to describe JKR's original items (clacker, I think it was, something like that) without borrowing her language. But the printed Lexicon entry? Takes her words. JKR calls it a lazy and sub-standard book, and I have to agree. Death is a big theme in the books, ne? It gets ONE sentence in the Lexicon.

;) But check out the transcript if you're feelin' bored some day.

*is done, she swears*

Re: More Info ($0.02 part two)

[kowaiyoukai.livejournal.com]

What DO people think of CC's published work? I mean, I thought her writing style was atrocious and all of her best ideas were blatantly stolen, so I've stayed away from anything with Cassandre Claire's name on it.

But since you brought it up I thought I'd ask. :P

I checked out the transcript and ranted about the lame attempt at minimizing Draco's character into a stereotypical moron. Newer LJ post. :P

Re: More Info ($0.02 part two)

[ice-is-blue.livejournal.com]

As far as I can gather, people in HP fall into two camps: people who like her and people who know her as a notorious plagiarizer.

I got an email from a grad school friend of mine who's a newly-fledged librarian rave about her book and ask me if I'd heard of it, since she knew CC's name was big in fanfiction. *facepalm* If 'big' = 'big, with a side-helping of notorious,' sure.

If you have access to NoveList through your public library (a likely possibility), you can see the reviews for City of Bones and its sequel from School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and Kirkus. Most librarians not in the know, would base their opinions off of those, if they haven't read the book. And those three reviews are all nauseatingly positive (and two of them mention it being Buffyesque, which CC was caught red-handed with the Big P in her fanfiction). I can email you the text of the articles if you can't access them.

Oddly enough, the -audio book- reviews listed on Amazon, that are linked to the printed book's reviews? Are all very negative. Go figure. That said, with 80+ reviews at Amazon, the book still has 3.5 of 5 stars.

I'm sure the editors (and lawyers?) have gone over her professional work to make sure her little habit doesn't creep up. Still... Rae and I looked at the first chapter one day, and had to stop a few pages in or risk vomiting from the badness. A conclusion we reached independently, no less.

I love my profession, but a lot of librarians have a sheep-mentality. ('Course, we're often too busy to be otherwise.)

The school district here is -closing- some of the school libraries. (How are the kids supposed to learn to read without books????)

Re: More Info ($0.02 part two)

[kowaiyoukai.livejournal.com]

That completely sucks about the school libraries closing. I don't get it. -_-;;

Forget the actual first few pages, I looked at the front and back cover and was disgusted enough to stop there. The main characters seem to be rip-offs of HP characters (wasn't the main guy exactly like fanon!Draco?), and the description of the plot was enough to turn me off.

Bah.