Potterdammerung

This retelling of the DH is better than the original, despite the Americanismsm net-speak and spelling mistakes.

Deathly Hallows

So. The End. I was disappointed by Book 5 and disillusioned by Book 6. The Horcruxes sucked badly and the Hallows, impossibly, suck even more. I have honestly read much better fan fiction. It was childish. All of it. The plot twists (Snape/Lily!), the action (Ma Weasley vs. Bella?!), the romance (Ron learning to court Hermione from a book!!!), the morals (Jesus!Harry :O). Everything. I was cringing and imagining the flame I'd have written if I'd been reading this on FFN. I think even the twelve year olds expect more these days. I believe a population deserves whatever leader they have, and JKR's wizarding Britain deserved Tom's police state, if they needed a kid to save them, and I was half heartedly rooting for the Death Eaters for most of the book.

FictionAlleyTechs

At the end of January I've seen a post by (as I later found out) the person who wrote FictionAlley.org's fiction handling system about FA needing techies.
An an aside, nowadays, I mostly get my fanfic fix at FanFicAuthors.net and DarkLordPotter.net, both of which mostly feature Harry Potter fan fiction by men, for men (read: boys). It basically means (and here I accentuate, not exaggerate) the Jane Austen references are replaced by sex and violence, sometime together (I skip those). I find it suits me better than SQ, though I'd read stuff from SQ if someone would recommend a specific story.
Anyway, I thought it would be cool to lend a hand, me being a fan and a techie. Also, I've never worked on a large site before, I could stand to learn a few things. So I've signed up and now I'm there, learning. I won't be posting about anything I do for FA on the blog, as they consider everything going on as "confidential", but if someone wonders why her new chapter isn't up yet, it's probably because I screwed up, so feel free to complain. That reminds me, I still have no idea how complaint mail is handled …

Edit: typo.

The Americanification of Harry Potter

How do you know when fan fic is going to be about Harry going to the states and discovering how the USA is cooler than Britain? Well, the sentence "the things Harry missed most about the muggle world when he was away at the Burrow or Hogwarts were Coke and pizza." is a good clue.

I don't mind people being patriotic, but turning a very British boarding school story to "adventures of a frat boy" leads me to suspect someone has seen one too many teen flicks.

Harry Finds Jesus

Disclaimer: I have never flamed Aaran-St-Vines, and I was outraged with the Kokopelli@SQ wank.

As a reply to Kokopelli's beta notes author's notes at the bottom of the latest chapter of Aaran-St-Vines' dual fic (two parallel novels, one for H/G, the other for H/H) posted at FFA I wish to quote from the chapter:

Father William came in to inquire about Occlumency lessons that night, but stopped when he saw how Harry was attired. Harry told him of his mission. The priest volunteered to pray for his success, and told Harry that he'd enlist the prayers of those of the friary who knew of the magical world.

Harry didn't quite understand why this comforted him so, but every time Fr. William prayed, good seemed to come of it, and he wasn't stupid enough to turn down any help.

Harry had come to the conclusion that since there was Evil in the world, there had to be Good, and he was unwilling for that to be some mystical goodie-goodie force. Good and Evil had faces in this world, and Harry felt that these matters were personal - not personal meaning 'for each person to decide,' that was nonsense to him. It either was or wasn't true, and all his wishing wouldn't make Voldemort go away.

No, when he thought that Evil and Good were personal, he meant they were person-like, as if there were a God and a Devil. He viewed it not as simplistic or simple-minded, but simply, manifestly true.

Harry believed in magic, which most Muggles thought didn't exist. Why did it take so much more faith to believe that God or a Devil existed? He wasn't planning on going on a crusade for his beliefs, nor was he going to force others to believe as he did. He just believed. He had received too much comfort from reading the scriptures. Father William often quoted a passage, which said that faith came from hearing the Word of God, and Harry had found great peace reading about David, the boy who had defied all odds and defeated the giant.

It wasn't that Harry went looking for peace and found it, as in he manufactured it in his head when reading the book the priest gave him. No, he read the book and found that peace came to him unsolicited. If Father William wanted to pray for him, he was all for it.

Now, my reply: This is not like mentioning ghosts or Greek mythology creatures. Here the main character Believes, with capital B. So yes, unlike canon, this story has religion in it. Politeness says it should come with a disclaimer. That's all what I wanted to say at the moment.

Fandom - Funny!

This is insanely funny. I don't know why.

Fandom - Disenchantment

First, the story. Hopefully it will stay there for posterity, while CC wipes the fandom's collective memory, deleting archived fan fiction and mailing list postings, in preparation for her career as a published author. I sure hope her publisher has some serious cross-referencing mojo and liability insurance.

So, for a long time I used to be a real Cassie Claire fangirlboy. Sure, I've heard something about plagiarism and I knew there was a story behind the founding members of fictionalley.org leaving FFN (and why it was called "The Site That Must Not Be Named" by some people) but all those people (e.g. Heidi) are really big and central to the fandom I knew*, so they must have been in the right, and the opposition (FFN, not R/H-ers) must have been in the wrong, and I never thought of going to the source and finding out for myself what the story was. It's a sorry excuse, but I wasn't the only one who fell for it. What really surprised me was that in all that time (five years!), I have never heard RJA say "Wolf, CC is a plagiarist. Those lines you love in her story were not written by her. Here, read this". I think I respect RJA more for it, though I still would've liked to be told. Maybe people assumed I know?

So, once again, I'm worshipping the cool kids from the sidelines, thinking that if I follow their LJs some of that coolness would rub off. I am quite disgusted by myself. It reminds me of Dave Winer and the founding of Atom. I used to be a fanboy before I started reading Tim Bray, Joe Gregorio, Sam Ruby and Mark Pilgrim. Looks like the sheeple instinct is strong in me.

* - SQ's and GT's apparent fanatism didn't help. Now I pity the poor folks at portkey.org (though I agree with many of the reasons for H/Hr), but then the people who didn't mix well with the people of Schnoogle always seemed decidedly more strict and less cool.

Fandom - on alternate lifestyle evangelism in liberal arts

I started writing this and it became me trying to say what I think about gays, and I don't know what I think. But anyway, I don't like reading slash fan fiction. Just because. I'm allowed to not like reading slash, right? So I really don't like it when authors don't say "slash" in the blurb/description/author notes, don't mention anything slashy going on, you're enjoying the story, and then the author introduces slash. So you are forced to either stop reading a story you liked, or keep reading and hope the slash doesn't get any worse*. I've read that some people sometimes do it on purpose. Another tactic is to introduce secondary and/or tertiary gay characters (sometimes OCs) in a subplot, so it's not the focus but the reader gets used to it being mentioned every few paragraphs. All attempts to educate the public, I'm sure. It's not fandom, it's the times. Kevin Smith does it, Lois McMaster Bujold does it. There is a major campaign to get gays into the mainstream. They always were well accepted with the artsy crowd, and I don't support bigots (being Jewish and all), but I don't like this evangelism. Please disclose slashiness upfront.

* - I have read After The End, but I have stopped reading Stealing Harry, though it was very good. I don't remember whether there was any warning when I first saw it.

Life/Fandom/Poetry(!) - Gender Wars

A while ago I've read some fic where the author quoted (in full) a Rudyard Kipling poem titled "The Female of the Species" (if copyright expires 70 years after the author's death, it's public domain since January, but I won't copy it here. Just look it up). I don't remember much but I think that Harry used the poem to educate Draco that attacking Hermione (or was it Ginny?) is not a smart move. Today, while jogging, it surfaced with a remembered feeling of unease. I remembered it bothering me when I first read it, but I couldn't tell why. So I've looked it up and indeed, it's not a poem about wildlife at all! It's a poem against women suffrage, and regardless of the fic author's gender, it looks like s/he didn't read it well. It was published in 1911, which as far as I know means women's rights were on the public debate. Or am I delusional?

Update

• The weather is hellish.
• Strangely, I'm excited about my current assignment. I wonder how long that will last.
• Was ordered to give a presentation on a system I've participated in building to rest of dpt. Was horrible, because I didn't return to the big picture after each chapter so people who lost me midway had no way to reorient themselves.
• Appears to have found a bug in IBM C/C++ compiler for zOS, systems people promised to check whether it's documented.
• Female team member appears to be afraid of me. I didn't do anything, it's just that none of us are all ok in the head.
• New team member is the most painfully extroverted person I've met, with no tact whatsoever, zero experience in behaving at a workplace, programming, working in teams, quasi-military reality, etc.
• Immediate boss is control freak, not talented at management at all.
• Services we must rely on provided by other departments don't work so it looks like our stuff doesn't work and we look like idiots to our clients.
• Buddy got left in the sun for more than ten hours because security officer freaked and decided that state of alert equals war and he can disregard the regs. His CO couldn't do anything about it.
• Got detention for a week for being late. Spending it in an air conditioned room with a fridge, microware oven, cold/hot water thingy, phone with civilian line and an unmonitored broadband internet connection reminded me once again that I'm not really in the army. Was kind of a vacation!
• I work in the public sector, so it all sucks, and I can't quit because I'm under contract. Because I can't quit, they can treat me like shit, and sometimes they do. Of course they know they get shitty work from an unsatisfied, undermotivated, undertrained, unwilling, often even downright depressed and rebellious workforce, but because it's the public sector (no competition, budget is decided with no correlation to actual work being done, promotions are decided with no correlation to accomplishments) nobody cares. Does that sound cynical enough? I'm a real patriot of my country, BTW, and I believe in doing what I can to improve what I can, but really, the system fights you every step of the way.
• Boss' boss said a number of PHB lines so bad I had to force myself not to literally ROFL on the spot. Unrelated buzzword spewage is not funny when you have to actually work with the man.
• AM2 and Conroe both look good. Of course Conroe is designed in Israel, so I'd buy that, but if AM2 still beats Intel at price/performance with moderate overclocking, I'll probably vote for the underdog.
• FFDB goes nowhere, but I haven't given up yet, it's just that carving time is hard when you're depressed and no one shows interest anyway.
• The latest fandom wank sounds all exciting, but I haven't read it yet. [Ed - I've meant the mssrcibe story by bad_penny]

Take care.

Fandom - Censorship?

There are 131 missing author ids on sugarquill.net. They represent the 131 authors who were deleted, either for technical reasons or for not complying with something. I know of Kokopelli, and of Alec & Teri. I think some other were tossed out with Alec & Teri. Who else? What were the causes? I suspect canon interpretation fundamentalism. Or is this something one does not speak about in polite company?

HP fandom - GoF

The movie opened on Thursday, December 8th. I was beat, and was only able to watch it after the Sabbath. The cinema is located near/in an area with many observant people, so they have to adhere or lose much of their clientele, but I'd really like to be able to go the movies on the weekend. First time I feel that way, as far as I can remember.

The cinema was packed full of kids. I forgot how skewed my thinking of the fandom demographics is. Also, junior-high aged girls wear too much makeup and look disturbingly attractive.

The decorations were good, most of the characters were the way I pictured them. Dombledore was OOC, and Flitwick was made into a sort of mascot or something. The kids' acting wasn't top notch. I enjoyed it through and through, but that is because my expectations were intentionally set very low. It was too dang short and I've missed all the detail from the book. I've read and heard people say the movie was too long and they needed more restroom breaks. Well, don't drink so much overpriced sugar-water!

Voldemort and Moody were good. I need to see it again to say anything more.

Books - Lois McMaster Bujold - The Curse of Chalion

A spoiler-free review of Lois McMaster Bujold's first good Fantasy novel!

So, as everyone who reads my blog knows already, it's so totally awesome. Thank you very much R. for making me read it.

• A world where prayer is actually answered, and every lay man is entitled to at least one miracle, is either really cool or just as the same as ours, depending on one's POV, I guess.
• I liked how theologians are the wizards of this world, though for the men who are not god-touched, it could be plain medieval Europe. A very light use of fantastic elements, all considered.
• I loved the language, and how it served its purpose instead of being the purpose.
• Umegat trying to debauch a dedicat by making her read Boccaccio aloud was funny.
• The hero appears to be designed to be fallen in love with by the reader, but I can't bring myself to dislike him none-the-less. Bujold is good like that.
• The book does start slow, but it picks up its pace and gets to the point where you can't put it down midway through. The ending was a surprise for me.

If you were a dedicat of one of the Chalion gods, which god would you choose? There's no shame in choosing by color, mind, but a theological reason is preferred.

HP Fandom - Wahlee's "This Moment" H/G fluff

I consider Emily a friend, and I loved her previous writing and completely agreed with her in all those shipping wars I didn't really participate in, and I find nothing wrong with the story (except the typography, which I'm sure is not her fault and will be promptly fixed). But after HBP I just want to say Ginny-Sue is, if not strictly OOC, plain dull. Jo didn't tell us, even through the eyes the worst narrator ever, what Ginny is like, except that she appears to be Fred and George's female third twin and is probably good at snogging. We don't really know if her feelings for Harry are any deeper than her celebrity crush from years past. We don't know what she and Harry talk about during their lake-side excursions (if at all). We don't know she loves him and anticipates his idiotic behavior, or why she does something so atypical and quietly accepts it. All we know is that Harry was physically attracted to her and appreciated her unsophisticated sense of humor, and later was happy dating her. So what? Maybe Harry, being depraved of human touch the way he is (thanks to his loving family), needed the kind of relationship Ron had with Lavender, got exactly that from Ginny, and unlike Ron, was deliriously happy about it? Maybe they just talk Quidditch all the time. Maybe the first thing he did was checking whether she's a real redhead. Maybe I'm being stupid and need to go to sleep.

HP Fandom - HBP

Warning: Spoilers ahead. Obviously.

So. Canon. At last. Again. It was kind of a disappointment, how "in character" everything was. Dumbledore is a secretive, overbearing, scheming old fool. Snape, no matter what his true motives are, is a right bastard with a flare for hating incompetence. Hermione is big-headed, Ron is a five year-old, Ginny is a smaller, though by no means less dangerous, version of Gred & Forge, and Harry is Conan The Barbarian in training. Oh, and Voldemort is Koschei the Immortal (if Jo hasn't read some Slavic mythology or folk tales, I'll eat my hat).

Compared to the good fic I've read, it was positively dull. Harry getting together with Ginny? Boring. Harry wants to split with Ginny? Boring. New Minister for Magic is a politician? Boring. The tiny magical community is unashamedly nepotistic? Boring. Most teenage girls, like most teenage boys, are stupid? Boring.
The only marginally interesting character in the whole bunch was Draco Malfoy, and seeing him only through Harry's twisted perception of the universe we don't know anything (good for fanfic, I guess). I'm willing to buy RJA's theory, but in any case I've lost my sympathies for the main characters.
Oh, self appointed Champions-Of-JKR: Tonks r0x, Lupin r0x, and together they snog, not fall asleep! BTW, I still wish for Honks as it makes for more interesting stories.

ETA: Seeing as this is the only negative review I've read, I feel I must say I don't think the book was bad, just that the anticipation was better than the thing itself, which is a known effect. Also, I probably wasn't in the best mood when reading it (on guard duty), so I'll re-read it and see how I feel then. I can only remember two times I've laughed (though not why, in either case), does it seem right?

HP Fandom - Elsha's D* Theo/Anne series

I don't know if there's an epilogue, but this is the last chapter. Good for Elsha, finishing it before HBP. It is a story about the girl next door and the Death Eater's son, but though this description makes it sound very kitschy, it's actually very good.

ETA: That wasn't the last chapter. That only closed the plot for Harry & Co. The next chapter is closure for the fic's main characters, and an epilogue is promised. Also, she's fixed the character encoding problem.

HP Fandom - Harry/Snape in iambic pentameter

Really. Here. Am speechless.

Fandom - Congrats Melissa!

I remember in her first few posts on the now happily defunct HP message board, she was in the process of graduating from college... Anyway, hard work does pay off, and you've earned it! Now, anymore Firelox fic? ;-)

HP Fandom - update

Since there is no FFDB (yet), I'll keep posting updates.

• Caitlyn updated Letters From Home. Definitely the cutest OFC in Fandom and a long time personal favourite, despite continuous markup issues (for me that's saying a lot).
• Anneth Lagamo has posted cool new stuff on her artwork site: Edgeworlds. Highly recommended, though I'm sure I don't have to introduce a talent like her.
• J.L. Matthews updated Slytherin Rising: Year Of The Cat. For years I've kept coming back for more Slyth Four while I let Lorific get stale in my inbox. That's praise.

Fandom - push technology meets plugs

I got this in the mail a few days ago (to my soon to be abandoned hotmail address, which is clogged with penis enlargement ads. Consider it - M$ gives you only 2MB storage while average spam item is 136K!).

Dear Friends,

My new Harry Potter fanfic has begun to be posted at the Sugar Quill. It's called "[snip]" and you can access my author page there at the address [snip].

You are on this mailing list because you made a positive comment about one of my previous stories ([snip], [snip] or [snip]). I will remove your name from the list on request.

Best regards,

[snip]

So, is this spam payback for being a good reader and leaving a signed review? Or is this a legitimate service I should be thankful for? Personally, I like to subscribe to updates myself, and many authors use Yahoo! Groups exactly for this purpose.