#OZ editorial

[davetada]

Samia

Los Angeles, CA

[travsd]

The Genocidal Writings of L. Frank Baum

November is Native American History Month; next year (2025) will mark the 350th anniversary of King Phillip’s War, the beginning of the end for the native people as the dominant polity on this continent. I’m marking the occasion with a series of daily posts related to the history of the Native Americans and their interactions with encroaching Europeans. Some will have to do with pop culture;…

[khozee-gorl]

happy halloween

[rickmaynard]

11-22-24: Georgetown News Graphic cartoon.

[notesfromachair]

Wolfs in Sheep's Clothing

This week I watched attempts by both J.D. Vance and George Clooney to charm their way through inferior material and ultimately both failed miserably.  The Chair comin’ in hot! Which only goes to show that whether it’s faux Republican schtick or tired Democratic schtick some of us viewers can still spot a con a mile away. In his new-ish Apple movie, Wolfs, Mr. Clooney – with support from his…

[katanahime]

Tim References: Deaths, Fake Deaths, Resurrections and Returns

Age: 13

Tim starts Robin training

Janet Drake dies Jack Drake gets put in a coma (same event)

Tim becomes Robin

Jack Drake wakes up from his coma

Age: 16

Darla Aquista dies Stephanie Brown "dies" Jack Drake dies (these are not the same event, but are close enough together that their funerals are 3 days in a row)

Darla Aquista is resurrected by Johnny Warlock and becomes Warlock's Daughter / Laura Fell

Jason Todd comes back (this isn't when he's rez'd but it is when he beats Tim up)

Kon dies Bart Allen ...dies? "dies"? (gets played off after like he was actually in an alt reality for 4 years and then returns but "without his powers" but then he actually does have his powers and then gets an editorial mandate to die anyway, I'll cover the placement of that later. tbh I'm confused which death is currently considered canon)

Dana Drake (formerly Winters), Tim's step-mom, is in a hospital in Bludhaven (where she had been since Jack's death) when Chemo drops, so she probably dies? she is legit just never mentioned here or again one way or another

Age: 17

Tim uses a Robin costume that is primarily red and black now

Tim is adopted by Bruce

Bart dies if he didn't before

Steph comes back and it's revealed she was never dead to begin with

Bruce Wayne "dies" (time stream)

Tim becomes Red Robin

Kon and Bart are both brought back via weird time shenanigans and people from the future

Z and Owens die

Bruce is returned

Tim should turn 18 fairly shortly after that tbh

Age: 19?-20? (probably? got nothing but context clues and assumed age gaps to work from here)

Tim is given a new RR costume in standard Robin colors

Tim "dies" (actually captured by "Mr. Oz", actually Jor-El)

Tim returns

Alfred Pennyworth dies

Tim becomes Robin again

(He should? be at least 20 by the last two items if he wasn't to begin with in this section, and *might* be 21, and if not, should be fairly shortly after? I have pebbles to construct with here, I swear. I'm trying so hard.)

[zahri-melitor]

Ric Grayson, or Tim 'Nightwing' Drake: a story of how Tom King's Nightwing pitch would have functioned.

You can often see the remains of discarded or overruled pitches in comics, if you look at structural decisions and compare them to pitches that you know were made.

One obvious one people might be familiar with is that Helena Bertinelli, back in 2003, was being set up to be removed from the Bat books and transferred over to what eventually became Greg Rucka's Checkmate 2006. There's a whole establishing storyline done in Gotham Knights by Scott Beatty. However, Gail Simone's pitch for Birds of Prey, which was published a mere two months after the Beatty story wrapped up, took Helena and used her to expand the Birds of Prey roster. It's a move that likely redirected Helena's character arc permanently (though the ghosts can still be seen in the choice to use Helena B as Matron in Grayson).

Equally: I hypothesise the reason we got Ric Grayson is because we got Young Justice 2019.

If you look at the storytelling, in terms of cover dates:

Dick was shot in Batman #55, in November 2018

Tynion's 'Tec run finished July 2018

Young Justice 2019 started March 2019

City of Bane started September 2019

King's pitch for Tim to take over the Nightwing mantle would probably have been a 12 issue run, to my eye; with the schedule that Nightwing had at the time, it would have been 6 issues (twice monthly) and then 6 issues (once monthly), ending the run and placing Dick back as a restored Nightwing...in issue #61, August 2019.

City of Bane kicked off the next month, being King's big 'all family-in' storytelling climax arc. It would have been the perfect place to put Nightwing, once again himself, reuniting with people. (I cannot tell how this placement would have gone should King have got his full 100 issue run; but I don't think City of Bane was significantly shifted forwards?)

Now I can't tell if the twice monthly issues dropped to monthly because Ric Grayson went down like a lead balloon with the fandom, but that would have been a very fast turn around in solicits for DC to withdraw support on a new direction (about a month). If it was expected to remain twice monthly, then I still think it would have been a 12 issue story, but might have stretched to 18 to meet plot needs over in Batman (King doesn't seem to have an issue about padding stories to get timing to line up in ways he wants them to)

King's pitch was also made at the time when Tim was still Red Robin, but clearly there was internal interest in transitioning him away from the name and into some other identity as part of the shift away from n52. Putting Tim into the Nightwing suit for 6 months to a year would have been a nice intervening step to use as the prompt to give Tim a new identity.

It's a pitch from King that just...fits in really really well. I can see how he'd have had it interact with things. Especially as King really hadn't had an opportunity to use Tim in his run yet due to the Mr Oz storyline, and he'd been pulling so many other faces through his story.

(I will also note that the 'Drake' identity and costume for Tim appears in January 2010 in Young Justice; Bendis' initial concept was clearly taking Tim back to Robin before he also tried a 'new costume' growth arc).

But instead Bendis wanted to use Young Justice to anchor the whole Wonder Comics initiative, and he wanted Tim as Robin for it because the concept was to pull in all the nostalgia for everyone for Young Justice 1998, thus having everyone in their original identities. And that whole decision probably had more lead time than your average comic, so it took priority over suggestions of moving Tim to Nightwing (because they already had plans brewing).

(And then Young Justice got fucked over with SO MUCH editorial meddling, to the point that I cannot wait until enough people have left DC that we actually get stories about exactly how bad it was, rather than just inferring it from what can be seen in the text itself)

Come back next time for when I instead explain what I think happened with the accepted pitch for Ric Grayson (and how I cannot BELIEVE this was actually an accepted pitch, given the way it was treated as a hot potato; it feels more like an editorial dictate of a concept that was passed off until Dan Jurgens came up with an idea of how to make it into an actual plot)

[sgiandubh]

Caitriona didn’t mention Tony. Seems the ‘reporter’ utilized Google. 😂

Dear Didn't Mention Anon,

It's always a sarcastic pleasure to see tension climbing for literally nothing across the street. Some other Brazilian Anon, just like you (best way to convey your thoughts was, in proper English, 'the reporter used Google' - not the Portuguese semantic calque 'utilized'...), even speculated we must be hiding this shattering press article, since no reaction and/or discussion happened as of yet.

Brazilian Anons would certainly have made better use of their time and grey cells if they simply presumed that in another time zone people really have other (simple and boring and prehaps even endearing) things to do. While Brazilan Anons were probably sleeping or having breakfast, someone else was just about to end a shorter Friday work schedule, buy Chinese takeaway on the way home, have a light lunch, take out Baby the Lab for a short pee stroll around the block. And mercifully collapse in flannel sheets for a blessed siesta, waiting for the first snowy day of the year. But enough about me, Anon, you are not here for this: you are here for that article - https://www.mindfood.com/article/caitriona-balfe-looks-ahead-to-life-after-outlander/

It is also an amusing factoid that C's PR and/or *** very often seem to favor second-tier media outlets in order to keep spreading around the Narrative Word. Pinoy regional gazettes, borderline clickbait/gossip websites and now Mindfood, a vanity/hybrid press magazine based and edited in New Zealand and Australia by McHugh Media Group, which main activity, at least in Oz, is (🥁🥁)...paper mills and paper manufacturing - of course.

[Source: https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.mchugh_media_australia_pty_limited.6ded585ed8e21b347589059682b44143.html]

Within that group, the Mindfood project is but an apparently lucrative subsidiary ('integrated media company', LOL), despite some dire client reviews ( 2 out of a resounding global 3, how odd!) on Google:

'Rank amateur's' [sic!] (...) What sort of magazine publisher doesn't have a manned office? (...) They'll go broke very quickly like that.' '(...)pretty shabby treatment of a customer.'

😱😱😱

But let's assume I am twisting again the plot (I don't, I do not need to). Let's assume I am evil like that and I give credence to two very negative (but brutally clear, too) user reviews only. Perhaps I am wrong, you might say. So, let's also have a look at some company figures, shall we?

Nay contest, it's them.

[Source: https://rocketreach.co/mchugh-media-profile_b5d2097af42e3bbb]

Now, my lovelies, how can I put it without offending anyone? What we are looking at, here, is a small company with 5 (five) employees, few web hits (164.480 hits is ridiculous, when we are talking about press/media!), but a comfortable revenue (7 million AUD - about 4.5 million USD). May I remind you that a company's revenue is roughly its gross income, before subtracting operating costs, wages and taxes. But given they have only 5 employees, wage expenses & operating costs must be marginal and taxes are rather friendly in New Zealand, where their HQ is (to the point there was, three years ago, an ongoing debate in order to determine if the country was a tax haven: https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/06-10-2021/is-nz-a-tax-haven-for-the-rich-and-dodgy-the-pandora-papers-reignite-the-debate), you do the maths. Therefore, how can this rather substantial profit be explained, otherwise than by a very friendly editorial policy towards paid and/or sponsored content and product placement galore (Lifestyle, anyone)?

Its immediate competitor is a supermarket chain in-house bulletin/leaflet, Campbell's Cash & Carry. The kind of thing that always lands somehow in your shopping bag and then directly in the kitchen trash:

This is enough to show their real reach and place on the market, I believe.

All this for what, Madam Knife? All this to say that paper is probably paid by the talent's PR/***. I will not go into useless detail, because there is very few new-ish/relevant information (e.g.: 'With a long season seven concluding in January, the Outlander epic will close out within the next 18 months, taking the episode total to 101. '). But I will, gleefully even, point out two tiny details, all of you patiently read this long rant for, in fact.

As always, McGill doesn't even deserve a quote, only reported speech that is, in fact, snowballing prior reference (this is exactly where copy/paste comes in very handy, you see). And a clumsy one at that, sugar on top - hence the copy/paste certainty and this is so, so rude, I could cry (nope...):

But... but... such a nice, thoughtful touch for her Stans, who spent DAYS in a row proving he was not a music producer, but the Night Media Manager (and I have to say, delivered actual quotes - still No Face, No Name, No Number, though):

[Tait rhymes with hate, alright - I know, darlings, it pisses you off to no tomorrow 😉.]

Copy paste/Goes to waste. Finally, I had to snort (not a pretty, nor feminine sight) when I realized Mindfood takes its readers for complete, amnesic idiots:

So she became 'a mother in August of 2021', but she did film 'the sixth season of the drama while pregnant'. Granted, this paper is written for casual OL viewers, the kind of people who did find C interesting/beautiful/clever/extraordinary, but who don't remember her name when prompted on candid camera, for example. The kind of superficial audience who will never do the maths and never question the fact a pregnant actress was filming beautiful (but steamy) scenes with her... ahem... with her co-star she is now 'consciously uncoupling' from.

ROFLMAO.

Not even sorry for the length, Anon. There you go, let's say good bye with a merry little song - I am told I have the best tunes on Tumblr (SMH). Really, Mindfood's client could have curated and tailored better the Retconning Operation - but perhaps even PR has trouble taking that man and his narrative role seriously?

[meret118]

The Wizard of Oz series is centered around powerful girls and women, something unfortunately still unusual today. It was even more so when it was published in 1900. Matilda Joslyn Gage, was a huge influence on her son-in-law Frank Baum, and instrumental in the book being published.

The article below calls her a radical feminist, but they do NOT mean a terf.

They mean the same thing I thought the term meant when I first heard it - a fierce believer in feminism.

AFAIK there's no record of her ever mentioning trans people, but given her activism against organized religion as a source of prejudice, and for multiple oppressed groups of people, I definitely think she would have supported queer rights.

The Wizard of Oz film, and the novels that inspired it, were deeply influenced by the ideology of radical feminist Matilda Joslyn Gage. Gage may be best known as the mother-in-law of Oz novelist L. Frank Baum, but more importantly, she was an activist, who would be considered as radical in our day as she was in hers. “[Gage was] the woman who was ahead of the women who were ahead of their time,” Gloria Steinem said in Ms. Amongst her many accomplishments, Gage wrote the first three volumes of The History of Women’s Suffrage, alongside with her contemporaries, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Unlike these women, who both opposed the 15th Amendment, Gage sheltered runaway slaves in her childhood and married homes. In her final years, Gage became a treasured ally to local native American tribes, who adopted her as one of their own.

Mrs. Gage railed against religious leaders and politicians for a living and was so controversial and so scary to some that she was deemed ‘an infidel,’ her activities called ‘satanic.” That Gage is not better known to modern Americans is the result of deliberate actions taken by Anthony to distance the movement from Gage’s radical ideas, namely that the church’s hierarchies were inherently oppressive to women. As historian Sara Egge wrote, “Anthony in particular recognized that claiming her as central to the woman suffrage narrative was too dangerous.” Gage’s radicalism evidently rubbed off on her son-in-law. According to Schwartz, Baum became the outspoken secretary of his local Equal Suffrage Club, writing in a newspaper editorial, “We must do away with sex prejudice and render equal distinction and reward to brains and ability, no matter whether found in man or woman.”

Baum took inspiration from Gage’s politics, and in turn, she encouraged him to write down the spellbinding stories he told her grandchildren. In one instance, as Schwartz noted, Gage sent her son-in-law a newspaper ad for a story contest, writing on the enclosure, “Now you are a good writer and I advise you to try. Of course, you have but a little time, but ideas may flow.” In time, Baum would write The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but in 1893, seven years before his book, Gage published Women, Church and State, a 500-page treatise which detailed why the church’s hierarchies were inherently oppressive to women. In a lengthy chapter titled “Witchcraft,” Gage argued the church affixed the label “witch” to any “wise, or learned woman,” a practice she traced from the middle ages to puritan Massachusetts.

Source. The bolding is mine.

I think Gage would have loved Elphaba! :)

ETA: I now love the name Gage for someone regardless of gender. :)

[yourreddancer]

Today in Politics, Bulletin 130. 5/13/25

Today in Politics, Bulletin 130. 5/13/25 Ron Filipkowski May 13 ∙ … One day after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa offered to build a Trump Tower Damascus as a sweetener to persuade Trump to meet with him during his Middle East trip to discuss the US lifting sanctions on his country, Trump announced he was lifting sanctions. He said it will “give them a chance at greatness” and claimed he was only doing it as a favor to Saudi Arabia’s MBS: "Oh, the things I do for the Crown Prince."

… While we don’t know whether Trump’s motives involved bribery and self-interest (it usually does), many still believe it was the right decision. Former CIA agent Marc Polymeropoulos: “There must be a hell of a backstory on this, as I assumed his national security team, particularly those in the NSC, was against such moves. Also - the Israelis are not gonna be very happy. My take as someone who worked on Syria for many years, this the right move.”

… Noah Rothman of conservative National Review says that Trump’s decision here probably goes against the wishes of his Assad-fan DNI Tulsi Gabbard: “In case you need a primer on the dispute within the admin over how to approach post-Assad Syria - looks like the Tulsi faction is on the outs.”

… Oz Katerji, Director of The Battle for Kyiv: “If a proscribed paramilitary organization wins a civil war, disarms, renounces terrorism, and bans terrorist activity on the territory it now governs, it becomes perfectly possible to become deproscribed.”

… In his speech, Trump praised MBS: “I want to thank his royal highness the Crown Prince. He's an incredible man. I've known him a long time now. There's nobody like him. Appreciate it very much, my friend. We have great partners in the world, but we have none stronger and nobody like the gentleman right before me. He's your greatest representative. And if I didn't like him, I'd get out of here so fast. He knows me well. I like him a lot. I like him too much."

… He then praised himself to his mostly-Saudi audience, claiming that he just saved the American health care system with his executive order on prescription drugs: "You saw what we did yesterday in healthcare. We've cut our healthcare by 50-90%."

… Then he saluted Saudi Arabian generals.

… WH Correspondent’s Assn: “For the first time since the WH press corps started traveling with American presidents abroad, no wire service reporter is aboard Air Force One today. As the president travels across the ocean for high-stakes meetings in the Middle East, the White House has decided not in include any wire reporter. The WHCA is disturbed by this new restriction on who can cover this WH and continued retaliation for independent editorial decisions.”

… WH Communications Director Steve Cheung responded: “Oh no! Not a strongly worded email!”

… Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was critical of Trump’s executive order on pharmaceuticals in a committee hearing today: “The ‘most favored nation’ approach coming out of the admin - all of these other things, are short-sighted, unsustainable measures that are not going to produce the result I believe all of us want to achieve.”

… Sen. Maj. Leader John Thune to HuffPost: “My guess is that it'll be the subject of probably multiple lawsuits, and I think the courts will probably have something to say about it.”

… Lots of Republicans were asked about Trump’s ‘Palace in the Sky’ Qatari plane grift today with very different takes. Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) on CNN: “This is just an offer of friendship, but I’m sure this has to be legal if we are going to accept it. If it’s unethical, that will be up to the president to decide.”

Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) on CNN: “This is just an offer of friendship, but I’m sure this has to be legal if we are going to accept it. If it’s unethical, that will be up to the president to decide.”

… Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to CNN: “I have zero issue with it.”

… Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT): “You can’t beat free!”

… Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL): “I worry about the president of the United States flying on any plane owned by a foreign government, especially a foreign government that supports Hamas."

… Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT): "It must be one heck of a jet. I understand it went through AG Pam Bondi. So it's legal. It's ethical."

… Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): “How many of us have actually been offered the promise of a jet? When you get something of that value from a country, one typically thinks that there's something in it for the country that is offering it.”

… Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Fox: “The constitution in Article 2 says the president cannot take gifts from foreign leaders. There is a provision in the Constitution that says you cannot do this. I think it’s not worth the appearance of impropriety.”

… Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on CNBC: "I think the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems. I certainly have concerns."

…. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on CNBC: "We don't want to be straight up accepting any type of gift from any foreign government, certainly not one that can be viewed in a way that obviously has been presented here."

… Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) on CNN: "I don't like it. There's a reason that people can't even buy me a steak dinner. It's not necessarily that you can prove I have an ethical problem, it's that the appearance of it doesn't look great."

… Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) on Fox: “Would we let another country decorate the Oval Office? Would we let another country build the Situation Room? Would we let another country wire the press office? Oh, wait. Air Force One is all three. Air Force One is the Oval Office. It's the press room. It's the situation room all in the air. Why on Earth is it a good idea from a national security perspective to let another country, let alone the Emir of another country, give President Trump his next Air Force One?”

… Nikki Haley: “Accepting gifts from foreign nations is never a good practice. It threatens intelligence and national security. Especially when that nation supports a terrorist organization and allows those terrorist regimes to live on its soil. Regardless of how beautiful the plane may be, it opens a door and implies the President and US can be bought. If this were Biden, we would be furious.”

 Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “This isn’t a good idea even if the plane was being donated to the US govt. But Trump GETS TO KEEP THE PLANE??? It’s simply a cash payment to Trump in exchange for favors. Just wildly illegal.”

… Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX): “While ordinary Americans’ flights are grounded because of problems at the FAA, Trump is taking a $400 million bribe in the form of a ‘palace in the sky’ from a foreign government. Over and over: He gets paid. Everyone else gets screwed.”

… Even Laura Loomer: “I love President Trump. I would take a bullet for him. But, I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400 million “gift” from jihadists in suits. The Qataris fund the same Iranian proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah who have murdered US Service Members. The same proxies that have worked with the Mexican cartels to get jihadists across our border. This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true. And I say that as someone who would take a bullet for Trump. I’m so disappointed.”

… Reuters reported that the Trump admin ordered the FBI to devote a third of it’s time to help ICE with immigration enforcement, and to deprioritize white collar crime investigations to free up the time.

… RFK Jr. posted of video of his family swimming in DC’s Rock Creek. The National Park Service bans swimming and wading in the creek because there is “high levels of bacteria and other infectious pathogens, including fecal coliform, Giardia, and other potential waterborne illnesses. Chemicals flow into streams and into the creek from surrounding communities through storm drains and rainfall. These contaminants, among others, can make your family members, your furry four-legged friends, and you sick.”

… Indy journalist Jim Stewartson: “I lived outside DC for 20 years. Swimming in Rock Creek is like swimming in a toilet bowl. It’s fucking insane and everyone knows it. RFK JR TOOK HIS GRANDKIDS TO SWIM IN SEWER WATER. That’s why he’s so dangerous. He’s homicidally ignorant. He really believes his bullshit.”

… Mr. Brainworms is in charge of public health for the United States.

… Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) says govt spending needs big cuts: “People that are sitting around at home, watching ‘The View’ on television, getting SNAP cards, food stamps, and on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid—that’s got to be over with. Our country is not gonna make it. We cannot afford for that to happen, and President Trump is all about that. That’s what the House is pushing very hard.”

… Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) was asked how he can assure the American people that Medicaid won’t be cut. Burchett: “How can you assure your nana that you still support her after she told you that chocolate milk doesn’t come from brown cows?”

[quotelr]

Except... what Jesus said was: "I will build My church," not you. The verse is not a prediction, it is a proclamation of the Lord of the Earth, who never once talked of "children in subjection." or "wives be grave... sober, faithful in all things." In fact, reading the New Testament from the Gospels into Paul's letters, is like watching the Wizard of Oz backwards -- going from a world of color and amazement, into a land of black-and-white with insane devout women trying to kill your dog. -- editorial 2014

Glenn Hefley

[pachewrites]

Why didn't I know about this???

Chocolates With the Most Heavy Metals

The following products were found to contain the most heavy metals (% of MADL):1

Perugina 85% Premium Dark Chocolate: 1 oz contains 539% lead, 68% cadmium

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar: 1 oz contains 67% lead, 31% cadmium

Hu Dark Chocolate Gems: 1 tbsp contains 121% lead, 20% cadmium

Droste Cacao Powder: 1 tbsp contains 324% lead, 41% cadmium

Great Value (Walmart) Milk Chocolate Flavor Hot Cocoa Mix: 3 tbsp contains 345% lead, 13% cadmium

Ghirardelli Premium Brownie Mix Double Chocolate: 1 box contains 108% lead, 37% cadmium

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix: 1 package contains 218% lead, 77% cadmium

Heavy Metals Found in Chocolate: Study Sheds Light on Lead, Cadmium in Some Products

By Cathy Cassata

Cathy Cassata For more than 10 years, Cathy Cassata has written stories about health, mental health, medical news, and inspiring people.

HEALTH'S EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

Updated on November 14, 2023

 Fact checked by 

Nick Blackmer

[1hoverman0k]

Dr Oz Editorial: You should put a bike pump in your mouth and go until you can only see white

[elartedeseryo]

" EL ARTE DE SER YO "

Por: Xair Nevado

Editorial: Urban Elf Universe

Especial agradecimiento a: Leonardo Merard, Melani Garcia, Iosef Neuta, Polly, Carlos Robles, Jeffr3y, Juan One, Torrente, Maria Jose Jaramillo, Bionic Sleep, CRRD, CXXB, Gato Q'Ladra, Diana Gonzales, Noé, Ébano, Jean Pier, Lea, Nadie 33, Andy Dreads, Solanyi, Oscar, Reinaldo Torres, BioPunks, Adailton, Oz, Mariano, Mos J. Brown y Louis Miranda, Discgirl. (Por ayudarme de cualquier forma a construir este proyecto)

Gracias a estos culos malos por enseñarme a ser quien soy:

Dante Alighieri, David Bowie, Marilyn Mason, H.P Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Tim Burton & The Residents.

[kyndaris]

From Supanova to SMASH - A Convention-al Story

In the city of Sydney, Australia, there aren’t too many events where nerds can get together to celebrate pop-culture. Sure, we have a somewhat lowkey medieval fair that’s located about 62 kilometres away from the heart of the city (or, as we Sydneysiders like to call it: the CBD, which stands for central business district) as well as a few few board game events, but the ones that really catch the attention of most people are the holy trinity: Supanova, SMASH and OZ Comic-Con. None of which are as big as any of the events held overseas. That means that many of the guests certainly aren’t as up to snuff as those that attend similar events in America. We certainly don’t attract A-list Hollywood actors for a start!

Although, several years back, we did have Chuck Norris down under. So, that’s a plus?

Long story short, San Diego Comic-Con, this is not. There is no dedicated Hall H to showcase all the latest films that are in the works. Nor do we have attendees like James Gunn or Jamie Lee Curtis coming through.

It’s a far simpler affair than all that.

One that I had intended to check out again with @bleachpanda. Unfortunately, to my dismay, my friend couldn’t wouldn’t attend with me. She said she’d undertaken a translation course with mandatory classes on the weekend. I called bullshit, of course. But she was adamant that there were limitations to how many classes she could skip. 

So, I was left to attend Supanova on my lonesome.

Or so I thought!

Enter @mrsarmageddon!

A starry-eyed Generation Zed that I’d taken under my wing at work as the older, wiser and cooler colleague. Little did SHE know that I was actually a cantankerous miser who shook my fists at all the younglings throwing out words like ‘slaaay’ and ‘yaas queen.’ 

I think I might have thrown up in my mouth a little.

Anyways, she’d recently joined my team and I’d threatened that if she so much as thought to ask me questions, I’d bore her to tears by listing useless facts about Star Wars or Harry Potter or whatever video game that I could think of in that moment. But instead of being turned off, she’d actually seemed excited! In fact, she wanted more!

After some light Facebook stalking, I discovered she was one of those Tumblr fiends back in the day. One who was tangentially involved in the SuperWhoLock fandom. 

But more importantly, she was ALSO big into musicals. And, although, she didn’t read as much fantasy fiction as I did, she had delved deep into the realm of YA.

I had found...a kindred spirit. A mini-me! One that I could sculpt into my own image with just the right encouragement.

Purely by chance!

Okay, well, maybe it might be a tad bit impossible to make them COMPLETELY like me. I am, of course, the superior and more worldly lifeform that is perfect in every way - an Apex Predator if you will - in the world of social interaction.

Honestly, it’s not everyday that I find someone that ticks most of my interest boxes and gets all of my references. This was something special. I could feel it in my bones.

(Editorial Kyndaris here: The claim of being an Apex Predator? Yeah, that’s a lie. I’m actually the complete opposite. Honestly, I’m definitely more of a wallflower. And an incredibly awkward one at that. I’m a person who sits on the sidelines and who just thinks terrible thoughts of the people around me. NO-ONE should idolise me in any way and I’m certainly not a good role model for anyone to emulate).

In any case, @mrsarmageddon​ was not good at making good financial decisions. Despite already going to Dreamhack in Melbourne earlier in the year, she still wanted to go to Supanova. Something I, the enabler, well...supported! After all, going to such events is much more fun with friends. Even those that you meet through work. 

Is it a little strange to see them outside the work context and free from the confines of Microsoft Teams? Sure. But well, what can you do?

Arriving early at Supanova, I snuck in late to the Cristina Vee panel before sitting down for a discussion on the art of writing with Levi Grossman. The panels themselves did have their highlights but, especially with Levi Grossman, author of The Magicians, it just wasn’t as exciting as I had hoped. Once again, I was reminded that even authors, be they great or small, are just human. Not all of us are great orators.

Even in our field of supposed expertise, we can struggle.

Still, it was good to learn that Levi Grossman had learned some of the tricks of the trade by working in the field of journalism before becoming a bestseller author. Along with the fact that he had written other books prior to his breakout novel starring the likes of Quentin Coldwater but it had been a struggle to find his voices.

So, maybe there’s hope for me yet!

@mrsarmageddon​, unfortunately, was late for our very first out-of-office meetup. By the time she’d arrived, I’d already done a tour of the artist stalls and had picked up gifts for my friends, including @bleachpanda.

@bleachpanda, I hope you’re happy!

As we resumed roaming the halls, I got to meet @mrsarmageddon’s circle of friends (which was nice because most of my friends...well, they tend to like going to SMASH over Supanova). It’s always good to expand my circle of associates. One never knows when that can come in handy.

I jest.

In truth, I only met @mrsarmageddon‘s friends in passing before they disappeared to buy more merchandise from a stall.

By the time our feet were telling us to take a break, it was almost 4 PM. Since I had arrived at about 10:30 AM, I was exhausted but glad that I was laden down with impressive prints and a crocheted Appa, key Sky Bison of the Avatar Gang. 

Not even two weeks after Supanova, I was back at it again. This time, I was attending SMASH with @bleachpanda. We arrived there early but still had no luck in nabbing spots at the maid cafe. A little disappointing, but no matter. There was always Japan.

Given that @bleachpanda didn’t have a panel she wanted to see until 12, we wandered through the stalls to see what goodies were being sold by entrepreneurial creatives. Much like Supanova, there were plenty of prints and artwork to be had. Although, there were more options for sexy anime figurines to make a grown man blush.

In the end, I purchased a blind box and an Ai Haibara keychain. 

Yes. I’m one of those. A huge fan of the Detective Conan anime series. Which, honestly, isn’t getting as much recognition as it should outside of Asia. Who WOULDN’T love Kaitou Kid? 

Honestly, it’s a surprise given how prolific Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie are in the Western world.

Alas.

After nearly choking in the mass of humans congregating in artist alley, we headed to Pyrmont Theatre for a panel with the one and only Toru Furuya. The iconic seiyu for many a character including Yamcha, Tuxedo Mask, Sabo and Toru Amuro. For me, who wasn’t as impressed, the panel was a little tedious due to the requirement for translation. That wasn’t to say Toru-sensei wasn’t enthusiastic. He was gregarious and suave throughout all his interactions.

When it ended, though, @bleachpanda was sorely disappointed that we didn’t get snippets of his voice acting talent. Rather, that had been relegated to the Sunday panel. Something that irritated Bleachpanda to no end as we then waited outside another room for an otome panel.

Of course, I’m not one to play otomes though I do very much like the visual novel style of games. After all, I played through all of the Ace Attorney games. But by 1:10 PM, the doors had yet to open. And I was starting to feel hungry. Beyond that, my old high school friend had texted me that they’d be at a nearby cafe. So, I thought, why not join up with them rather than wait in line for something that looked incredibly boring?

And I think it was a good call overall. For, as we walked past, sneaking a glance into the room, the otome panel appeared to be just a normal PowerPoint presentation to regale the audience of all the great things that can be found within.

Even @bleachpanda was taken aback by the lack of interesting slides that were on display.

Unfortunately, I walked in the wrong direction because there were TWO cafes with the SAME name within the immediate vicinity. So, rather than catch-up with my high school friend then and there, @bleachpanda and I ended up buying some food at a nearby food court. 

But because of all the puttering about that we were doing, I missed out on the panel with Sungwon Cho, AKA ProZD!

The despair I felt then! Even as I trudged up to World Square to pick up a copy of the latest game from Spike Chunsoft, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. Junko Enoshima would be proud.

We returned to the convention after fuelling up and spent the rest of it going through artist alley, finally catching up with my high school friend and watching a performance on the Hobbyco stage. I even bought a Good Game mystery box, walking away with three new board games that I’ll play sometime in the distant future.

It sucks to live so far from friends that one can play board games with. But, it’s the hand I’ve been dealt in life and one I’ll simply have to learn to deal with.

Overall, I’d have to say that the two conventions I attended this year had both perks and downsides. It was a shame that I didn’t get to see ProZD but, at the very least, I got a chance to hang out with my friends that I so rarely see now that we’ve hit our 30s and are busy trying to carve out a career, or in the case of my high school friend, contemplate if now is the time to have a baby.

I, for one, am still on the fence on whether I should just accept the fact that I’ll never find THE ONE and just put in some research on IVF and Australian sperm donors. While I like the idea of having a child, going it alone is going to be tough.

Of course, there’s still time. So, while I ponder my next steps, I’ll just enjoy my new Eunie, Tora and Reyn pins (characters from the Xenoblade Chronicles series) , along with the fantastical artworks that I bought that will decorate the walls of my future abode if my mortgage doesn’t force me to sell off my property.

What a time to be alive!

Oh, and before I forget, I’d like to think that I was quite impressive with my ability to find whatever stall I’d marked out to revisit. @bleachpanda was certainly astounded that I could seemingly navigate the veritable maze of straight aisles that was the SMASH convention, whereas she would have still been lost even if she walked through the room twice.

So, yay for my good sense of direction?

[thebreakfastgenie]

Asking in good faith and curiousity — is something not considered fanfiction if what it is based on is in public domain? Like the Song of Achilles isn’t fanfiction since it’s based on the Iliad?

The definition is a little loose, but typically if you can publish something and profit from it because the source material is public domain, it is not considered fanfiction. It may not be technically incorrect to refer it that way, but it's not what is generally meant or implied by "fanfiction." Song of Achilles is not generally considered fanfiction as far as I know. There are many books based on mythology and they are not considered fanfiction.

There are other gray areas, too, such as expanded universes for large franchises. Those novels are authorized by the holders of the IP, so legally they're a different beast, but functionally the content isn't different from fanfiction. In the 70s, a couple of collections of Star Trek stories were published that were fanfiction, written by fan authors, but published by the owners of the IP.

In general I find it easiest and most functional to reserve the word fanfiction for unauthorized, self-published stories based on existing intellectual property. So if Wicked had been uploaded to AO3 instead of published as a book, I would call it fanfiction. This does get a little messy with source material like The Wizard of Oz or Pride and Prejudice or Shakespeare, and in many cases there exists both published "fanfiction" and fanfiction on AO3 or other sites. But traditionally published books go through an editorial process that fanfiction does not so I think it's worth making the distinction.

Additionally, many of these older public domain works have well-known adaptations that are not yet in the public domain. "Fanfiction" that is traditionally published and sold cannot include details from these adaptations. To take Wicked as an example, the shoes in Wicked are not ruby slippers. They could not be, because the ruby slippers first appeared i the 1939 movie, which is not yet in the public domain. Pride and Prejudice fanfiction that includes details specific to the 2005 film can be on AO3 but cannot be published and sold. I have not read Song of Achilles, but it would not be able to use specific details from the movie Troy for example (although I doubt the author would want to) but a fic posted on AO3 could.

I don't have a problem referring to these thing as fanfiction in a colloquial sense, but in more serious conversations I prefer to make the distinction.

so tl;dr I would not consider Song of Achilles fanfiction because the Iliad is public domain.