Fanlib.com and issues around legality of fanfiction, etc.

■ Transforming Fan Culture into User-Generated Content: The Case of FanLib
Henry Jenkins analyzes Fanlib.com and the impact of profit-driven websites that advertises fandom works.

I was linked to this through Pir8fancier's post regarding the cooperative overtake of fandom and while I think she is being a little paranoid and sensitive about its affect on the slash fandom, her fears or nor completely unfounded.

<rant>

Well, plenty of people can make a point much better than I, considering I did not even know of this until now. However, I do see Fanlib as a threat to the current fandom environment because of exactly what they see their goal as: "...[to] create a platform that will harness the energy in a way that can be controlled and moderated by the creators and distributors of that existing property."

I feel that not only are their websites (prototypes and betas and their main site, Fanlib.com are below par, and its page design seem to suspiciously cater towards young teens or children (while extending the legal limits to other audiences). Even without the comments and issues surrounding Fanlib, I feel immediate dislike towards the site. It reminds me of young teen websites.

The Fanlib ads are pretty repulsive, especially to a predominantly female population. The more I read into this Fanlib thing, the more I grow to dislike them, and the more it seems like they are just trying to take advantage of the creative process as a whole. As a reader, I revere the author's creativity and sometimes love the world they create more than the original. The thought of this freedom being harnessed and controlled, culled of all things "not normal" and "obscene" frightens me. I adore the fandom because of the potential it gives the universe (of the original story), because the twists and new things that develop from one common stem.

</rant>

I will be watching LJ community Life Without Fanlib and Henry Jenkin's weblog to see how things proceed. And also, still reading on links and sources.

cross-posted to LJ

Hoorah for YouTube

*is ded*





Where the hell is Matt?


Where the hell WAS Matt?

I saw this video a long time ago...

The difference between pressing the "save" button and the "publish" button.

For three years and 364 days this place has been an all-understanding dummy of an outlet for everything I have not said, should have said, and would not have said. Through the years blogger has changed and grew (and taken over by Google); I have changed and grew and experienced and understood (and seduced by Google).

I came to understand much about myself, from both looking back at my old, angsty, childish, crazy entries and just from "thinking out loud" like this. What struck me recently is the big difference between keeping something as a draft, safe from public eyes, and published rants that nobody should care about. Pushing the "publish" button releases me from anything that were bubbling inside, no matter its content and emotion hidden beneath. Keeping a draft lacks that release, because I have not said everything, because there is still an unfinished thought, a promise to finish. It is not a burden released. It is not something I have let go, put down, got over (or not), said something about.

It was a rather...freeing experience that I feel I cannot accomplish through this archive alone anymore. The promise, the goal, that I made when I began this thing is something I cannot hold up any longer. Too many things that begs to be said cannot be said here anymore, because I have become less physically, emotionally isolated from others; no longer is there a buffer zone called home between me, what I write, and those who read it.

Everything has become heavier.

ETA: Come to think of it, perhaps this is why I no longer find Kakeru to be a suitable name anymore. It has become a spot on the enormous internet where I spout a little of my own words, leave a little mark, rather than a place to free myself from me. I can't free myself anymore. Maybe the Buddhists were onto something when they spoke of the things one must be disconnected from...

Hunger

It is surprisingly easy to not eat, or at least not eat a lot, once you start.

Surprisingly easy, but it is still uncomfortable and detrimental to studying.

Maxium the Hormone

マキシマム.ザ.ホルモン did the second opening of Death Note. While it's...a little grating on the ears, its fitting in a psychedelic way, LoL. Anyway, I somehow ended up with their album and, out of curiosity, looked them up on wikipedia, which then linked me to their website.

On their about the members page are the following brief introductions on rollover:
Ue-chan (bass)
Nawo (drums and female vocal and big sister)
Maximum-the-Ryo-kun (vocal and guitar and little brother)
and
Daisuke-han (キャーキャーうるさい方), which translates to "the noisy/annoying one who goes Kya kya)

lmao.

Those guys are so weird.

Okay, time to panic.

I didn't want to check my Winter quarter grades before now. With this quarter almost gone, it's about time I panic and actually work hard to get some good grades, since I will need a good 3.25 or above. Ooh, the stakes are high and costly.

Eurovision 2007

Is Awesome. With a capital A. Out of the 42 tracks, some were general pop, rock, europop, etc. A couple had what seems like to be cultural elements. But most of them are lovely, with a large variety. Most are in English, with their country's language or not. Just, kyaa. Yeah, kyaa.

(is not descriptive at all)

If There Was a Choice...

Oh, I know exactly how I got into this state of mind. And frankly, the
simplest solution would be the Esc key. If only I had a key like that.
These things are becoming not worth my attention, my energy, none of it is
anymore. Perhaps the problem is my own—others certainly don't seem to have
problems like mine...well, then again, others certainly aren't
[stupid, timid, lost, nosy] enough to pursue a solution to prevent
themselves from getting into my situation.

I'm at the end of my tolerance. Oh, surely, I've been managing for a while.
Even that is getting to be too tiresome now. I'm not understanding, I'm not
caring, I'm not kind, I'm not patient, and I'm fucking socially awkward.
I'm afraid of criticisms, rejections, and hated looks.

I can't help even if I want to.
Everything more than staying quiet and offer acknowledgment will ruin
things, I'm sure.

And the biggest problem of all: I can't fucking stop asserting myself
somehow. Can't fucking stay away, can't NOT DO ANYTHING AND SEE IT MANIFEST
AND GROW AND FESTER AND DECOMPOSE.

Yet it's what I've been trying to do all this time.

And it's killing me.

I feel dead.

Grass-cutting Noise Monster

Whose the hell thought that driving that grass-cutting noise monster at eight forty-five in the morning would be a fucking good idea? And the leaf-blowing machine? Even the workers need earmuffs for those!

And here I thought I can avoid being woken up by noisy things by sleeping early and waking at a reasonably early time. Damnit.