Unleash Your Imagination... kinda

The tag line for Fanfiction.net is "Unleash your imagination" however it seems that a more appropriate comment would be "Unleash your imagination, but read this list of what you can and cannot write first." When I got into fanfiction there were still NC-17 stories on fanfic.net, I've been a member since December 2003 (although I have been reading longer then that). However, currently if you so much as imply that two characters are looking at each other in a suggestive manner someone sends an alert and your account is deleted. While I've yet to run into this problem, being a stickler for proper rating, I fear that anything rated higher then a K+ will be removed in an attempt to appease those easily offended.

Now they have added a feature so that the author can filter profanity in the reviews they recieve. That's right, authors have been given the power to decide which reviews they do or do not want. I find that to be ridiculous. If you put your story out there for people to read then you put it out there to be reviewed as well. It's one thing if you get a burn review and delete that but to have so much controll might go to a writer's head. Almost six year, 22 posted stories, 54,987 hits, and 425 reviews later only once did I deem worthy to remove one of the reviews I recieved. Somebody has to say something pretty damn offensive for me to delete it.

It has gotten to the point where people who want to read something other than your typical K-rated fluff stories go else where. Livejournal communities have sprung up all over for topics that have been unaccepted on the more "mainstream" type sites. Authors also tend to put their watered down versions of a story on fanfic.net and then go else where to post the actual version. That or they add an "email me for the other version" note after the disclaimer. Gee I wonder how many readers fanfic.net lost after that decision went into play.

Some stories do deserve harsh reviews and some reviews deserve to be removed. People can be mean and people can write stories that make you go "What the fuck did I just read?" (BTW thanks to the new filter, the thought I just put down can be censored) People really need to learn to use their own judgement. If you know that you don't like higher rated subject matter then don't read it and be surprised that you don't like it. I don't like slash stories so I make a point of not reading them. I have a friend who doesn't enjoy reading het, so she doesn't. See how easy that was?

Something else that I've noticed lately in the fanfic relem is people getting very uppity about AU stories and OOC situations. Lets break down the word FANFICTION. FAN being someone who enjoys a fandom FICTION being NOT REAL. Meaning that what we're writing here is not going to happen on the TV show (With the odd exception of Gilmore Girls, that entire April story line was like a bad fanfic story). If you like the characters to remain canon then write and read those ones. There are great search engines and search filters on most sites, use them.

So many readers and writers go to fanfiction because they want something different. Something that they weren't finding or getting enough of from their fandom. But we've managed to end up with readers who delight in getting accounts deleted, the power to controll what we want to be told about our stories, and general censorship. Writers who dare to unleash their imaginations, with their only concern being "Is this something that people will enjoy", end up with their account deleted because somebody didn't approve.

I love fanfiction. I remain loyal to fanfiction.net despite the changes, but I long for the days when fanfiction was still "new" and we foolishly made the assumption that everyone had the common sense. Silly us.

Thank God You're Here, Dave Foley!

It was hilarious. Thank God You're Here! had an amazing two hour premire. Dave Foley is there as the judge... a wonderful... Sarcastic Canadian judge. Oh the children we would have. Ha. Ha. Moving on. If you didn't catch it this past Monday then tune in next Monday and watch it. I cannot remember the last time a TV show has made me laugh as hard as I did.

So I got the fifth and final season of News Radio this past week. As much as I love the show it really isn't the same without Phil Hartman. But Dave Foley is still there so I suffer through, haha.

Does anyone know if it is some kind of sign if you get hit with a clock? I know that's a random question but I'm trying to figure if God is trying to tell me something or if it was pure unlucky gravity. This morning I was getting dressed and I went to get something out of the chest of draws that my TV is on. Now on top of the TV is my retro Ikea clock. As I closed the bottom drawer it hit a little hard and the clock suddenly fell... and landed on my wrist... rather painfully. Gravity or God? Something about time or "damn! what the hell!?"

Alright, this is going to be it for tonight for two reasons. First Conan O'Brien is on and I love Conan. Second Carson is going to be on in a few minutes and while I hate Carson, one Mr. Quentin Tarantino is the guest tonight... I'm still trying to figure out both the crush and interest in his chin... Any thoughts my two readers?

Tarantino?

That's right I mean Quentin Tarantino. This might seem odd to some but here we go. The other night I was half-reading, half-watching Jay Leno, suddenly I looked up and QT had come out and filled the empty guest chair. That's when I found out... he's funny. Granted there are occasional moments of humor in his films, the discussion of Madonna's "Like A Virgin" song in Reservoir Dogs was hystarical. I couldn't explain what happened next but my mind came up with some rather unusal thoughts about the Director/Writer/Actor. I could've sworn that I thought he was attractive. Never before had this thought crossed my mind there it was.

I've shared mine now I want to hear someone else's celeb crush that probably should stay secret. Let me hear 'em... I know that I've only got like three readers, but play along here.

In other observations... I am loving the new show Andy Barker P.I. it's funny, Andy is hilarious, and best of all Tony Hale who is best known as playing Buster in Arrested Development is so fantasticly funny.

Coming up next week: the premier of Thank God You're Here. Looks kinda funny but here's what I'm looking forward to: Dave Foley. Oh baby. My favorite Canuck comedian being sarcastic and judging, I giggly girlishly at the thought. I would just like to point out that if Dave Foley and I had a kid, it would be the most sarcastic thing on the playground.

Okay, well that's all. If I get anymore ideas of something to write on or if something interesting happens I'll be here first... nothing much interesting happens much.

O'Bothered

So I was heading over to YouTube as per my usual Saturday night of doing nothing. In hopes of finding something of a humorus nature to watch I instead came across something called "Open Letter to the Rosie O'Donnell's of the World". I confess being interested. I clicked on the video and found a very well articulated man explaining his point of view and well controlled anger at the rather brash talk show host. Apparently she did a rather discouraging imitation of speaking Japenese. Not being a fan of The View I hadn't know about this. Also it hadn't been broadcast quite as much because for a change it wasn't Rosie calling someone else names.

For a self-proclaimed champion of those who she feels worthy of speaking against I was surprised that there hasn't been any response from her. I think that she was completely out of line to do such an unapologetic impression. I know that I feel annoyed when I see poor impressions of Americans. Also getting on my nerves is just Rosie in general. I'm surprised that we've gotten this far without another feud. First she goes after Kelly Ripa (seriously? It wouldn't matter who put their hand over my mouth I would remove it. You don't know where people have been.) Then she gets mad about Trump giving that beauty queen a second chance. While I think that beauty pagents just perpetuate girls feeling bad about themselves because they don't look like Barbie dolls. Trump giving this woman a second chance is a good example that there is such thing as understanding in this world (although it might have skipped a certain morning talk show host). Don't even get me started about how she is constantly going after Bush. I don't know why everyone thinks that constant complaining will get anything done. If you want something done you need organization and a well structured arguement that examines both sides of the topic. While I don't necessarily agree with everything that Bush does I do think that he deserves the respect that is afforded to the President of our country. Hell people still respected Clinton and he was doing the nasty with interns IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

Of course that's just what I think. I could be wrong. But I'm okay with my views. I'm not trying to jam them down anyone's throat, I'm just saying.

How about something we can all agree on? The media giving such a ridiculously amount of focus to Spears shaving her head and going in and out of rehab. Also the whole insane trial over Anna Nicole's body. While I do feel bad for Anna Nicole and her family, I do think that we should be reporting on, oh I don't know, THE NEWS? Remember the news? Some former pop star (who wasn't all that great, I could live without ever having heard the song Toxic) acting crazy, who cares? I think a lot of people are getting sick of both these topics.

That's all for now. Let me know what you think. All two people who read this...

Insomina - #1

I hate nights like this. Nights when I lie awake and try to clear my mind of all thoughts but fail miserably. Then I end up infront of the computer screen with another episode of SVU playing in the background. Tonight what I can't get out of my head is the fact that I've been in AZ for 8 months now and I've only made a few friends, most of which I never see.

I can't get it out of my head that I've never had a boyfriend yet I'm completely enamoured with the idea of having one. This thought enrapts my mind enough that I was actually considering making a profile on gk2gk.com, if I wasn't so worried about ending up with some wack job (which as my luck would be...) I would do it. As it stands I'm too afraid to do it.

Fear isn't something I'm used to. My friends back home have always told me that I would be in Gryffindor because I'm brave. It's rare that I feel like something is beyond me or unattainable. Everyday I get to school early. Like really early. I have a long commute so I'm there a couple hours ahead of time. That wouldn't be so bad except I have no friends to hang out with at campus and I end up sitting by myself for a majority of the time. I had hoped to find a club or something the other day when all the clubs had their stands set up, however all I could find was the young republicans (which I did sign up for).

The thing that I constantly wonder... does anyone else feel like this?

Well lets see if another SVU rerun can lull me to sleep... unless of course the Belz is on... I can't sleep through his scenes.

--Moony

Underrated Movie Of the Week

This is my idea for... well really just for something to do. That is the underrated movie of the week.

So my movie suggestion for this week is: Brain Candy (The Kids In The Hall)

This is a hilarious movie that stays true to the wacky, slightly dark, cross-dressing humor that we all enjoyed from the TV show. The premise is a simple one. Scientists invent a medication that cures depression. However there is one minor side affect which I won't spoil.

See this movie.

Do it.

Seriously.


--Moony

Seriously. See it.

Dibs on Dave Foley.

Golden Globe Night

I should not be aloud to watch award shows. It's as simple as that. Emotional is not a word that is used to describe me. Sarcastic, cynical, witty, loud. Those are the words that describe me. However when I watch an award show, any award show I start to blubber like a little girl with a skinned knee. So tonight I reluctantly turned on the Golden Globes because my best friend in PA was watching before me, obviously, it was on there because of the time difference. She told me to turn it on at a certain time because someone cool won. I of course listened to her and put it on in time to see Hugh Laurie recieving his award. After that I was hooked.

My favorite acceptence speech aside from Hugh's was America Ferrera's speech, anyone who watched that and felt nothing is truly lacking some emotion because she deserved it and was so genuinely grateful for the award. So there are four stages I go through when watching these things.

1) Why am I watching this? I promised myself last time that I wouldn't do this again. I have a stack of Kids in the Hall dvds that need to be watched but I leave this on. I know how it's going to end, me in tears.

2) Crying. I never cry. Never. I've cried maybe three times in the past couple of months. When Grandma died, when I saw the movie Bobby, and the last time I had a panic attack. I don't know what it is about award shows. It might be because it's what I'm striving for and what I'll be dreaming about when I start my film classes tomorrow.

3) Image. With in the first couple of minutes of watching these programs I begin to imagine what I would say were I ever to win any award. Which would require me getting a movie made. If school goes well, internships happen and I continue to write the way I have been might happen some day.

4) A Repeat of Why? I finish watching it and again I go "Why did I just do that?"


Well it's over now. I'm settling in with a little NewsRadio (Thanks to the buy one get one free DVD sale going on at Barnes and Noble) and staying calm (no panic attacks tonight). First day of classes tomorrow. Lets see how ASU works for me.

--Sara