The SF/F and Related Blogs You Read
I follow a bunch of genre-related blogs, but I always have this feeling that I’m missing something. And so this post is about that. What are your favorite SF/F and related blogs? I want to know. Leave a comment with links and maybe I’ll find something new! That’s it. Nothing more exciting than that!
Becoming Pretentious Over Time — Cue Pipes, Long Diatribes About Literature, and Writing
Fact One: Apparently button-up shirts, nice ties, nice sweaters, and nice slacks are my new thing. They’re so much “my new thing” that I’m wearing them even though I have no intention of leaving the house (I’m currently sitting at a table on a houseboat that overlooks the Columbia). Hello! I’m a houseboat on the Columbia. You’ll have to excuseme for not having anything green growing. It’s winter, whichtypically means that nature decides to hibernate…unless youlive in Florida, where nature is constantly trying to kill you… I see all this as my slow decline into pretentiousness. Call it an evolutionary pathway for all PhD students. The longer you stay in academia, the more likely you are to fall into its grasp, from which no human being can escape! And if I’m falling into the pretentious hole of wonders, where my days are spent contemplating my research or the literary merits of obscure small press novels (hey, they’re good, so shut up), then I might as well embrace it, right? No? Really? Oh. Good. Glad that’s settled. All this is a really abstract way of explaining that things are changing around these parts. I’ve finished with Fall Semester’s insane grading cycle and have begun this thing they call vacation. At some point, I’m going to start writing fiction again, because I’ll have the time to actually think about stories and narrative and characters (90 hour work weeks make that somewhat difficult, to be honest). On top of that, I’m going to do some more reading (partly for interviews I’ve got lined up with some amazing folks and partly for my own enjoyment). And some where in all that, I’ll blog about more literature-related stuff (some SF/F, some not), more movies, more things that interest me (and, by extension, you). Wish me luck or something. ——————————————————- P.S.: If there must be a second fact, it is this — somewhere in all this strangeness is an elf with a missing sock; he wants it back and will kill for it. Watch yourselves.
N-Words and B-Words: Can people reclaim these words?
(Disclaimer: If you are easily offended by the proper spelling of the words hinted at in my title, then do not read beyond this point.) As a postcolonial scholar, I’ve become familiar with what Homi Bhabha calls the “ambiguity of colonial discourse.” In short, Bhabha suggests that colonialism attempts to recreate indigenous minds/bodies in the image of the colonizer, but only to an indeterminate line that allows the colonizer to differentiate itself from the “other,” since its existence as “colonizer” requires an opposite from which to draw its identity. Within that ambiguity, Bhabha argues, is where the indigenous can launch a different kind of resistance. I’ve often wondered if this same idea might apply to words like “nigger” or “bitch” (and their various spellings). While I won’t call myself a feminist scholar or race historian, it seems to me that it is within the realm of possibility that women or people of color could reclaim the words previously used against them by a particular dominant group. Otherwise, I’d have to look at a site like Smart Bitches, Trashy Books with a certain degree of contempt. Likewise, I’d have to view any use of the word “nigger” by people of color as inherently derogatory, even if within a particular cultural context, it means exactly the opposite. Are some of these instances moments of resistance / reversal / reclamation? How do we know? That’s where I want to leave it. A wide open question for the general public to explore. So have at it!
Dear @Ustream: You Are Forgiven
You’ll know from my previous post and Twitter and basically everywhere else that Ustream shut the Hugo Awards live stream down Neil Gaiman’s acceptance speech. The reasoning at the time was “copyright infringement.” Now we know what happened from Ustream’s end (granted, I’m late to the party, but I feel obligated to say something after smashing Ustream on Twitter and my blog earlier this week): This occurred because our 3rd party automated infringement system, Vobile, detected content in the stream that it deemed to be copyrighted. Vobile is a system that rights holders upload their content for review on many video sites around the web. The video clips shown prior to Neil’s speech automatically triggered the 3rd party system at the behest of the copyright holder. I don’t know much about these kinds of programs, but clearly something needs to be done to prevent such things from happening in the future. This might explain why Brad Hunstable, CEO of Ustream, has taken down Vobile pending further inquiry and said the following: Our editorial team and content monitors almost immediately noticed a flood of livid Twitter messages about the ban and attempted to restore the broadcast. Unfortunately, we were not able to lift the ban before the broadcast ended. We had many unhappy viewers as a result, and for that I am truly sorry. As a long-time Firefly, Stargate and Game of Thrones fan among others, I am especially disheartened by this. As far as apologies and actions go, this is right at the top of “best apologies ever.” Nobody had to petition Ustream to get rid of Vobile or to have it changed. Hunstable didn’t argue with the public or try to explain away the need for inadequate copyright protection software. He said “I am sorry” and suspended the Vobile service to recalibrate the settings. Oh, and in that apology you’ll find lots of references to geek culture and a specific goal towards Internet freedom and fair use. What more could you ask for? Okay, so we could ask for free puppies or chocolate, but that’s a big much, don’t you think? So, to Ustream, I say this: You are more than forgiven. You deserve and Internet hug. That is all.
Hugo Awards Stream Shut Down / Worldcon Banned (or, Dear #Ustream: Fuck you, Signed Fandom)
If you haven’t heard already, Ustream, the serviced used by Worldcon to live stream the Hugo Awards ceremony, pulled the stream and banned Worldcon from its site for terms of service violation. What violation would that be? Apparently an awards ceremony is not allowed to play short clips (a la fair use policy) from nominees in film categories. Doing so in the middle of your ceremony will result in a mid-sentence suspension of the feed and an apparent permanent ban (as of writing this, the folks at Chicon have indicated the Ustream will not bring back the feed, despite mounting public pressure). One would think pissing off a sea of geeks would be pretty low on one’s list. Not for Ustream. Apparently it’s right at the top of their list of “Things To Do When We’re Bored,” which is to say they secretly desire what all slightly deranged institutions desire: a slow, painful death (by crap PR). And they’ve got it. Twitter users have been Tweeting on and off since the take-down of the Worldcon Hugo Awards live stream about the service’s pathetic performance (using the #ustream hashtag). Others have indicated that Cory Doctorow will likely blog about this very moment at Boing Boing, reminding us all that this is what copyright has done to the world: you can’t even host a teeny little awards ceremony without some disembodied suit cracking the whip (well, the Hugos aren’t actually teeny or little, but you get my meaning). And that, for me, is the crux of the issue. If an awards ceremony is not an appropriate place to show short clips from films, then what is? If this is what copyright has come to, then isn’t it about time we all stopped and said, “You know what, this is dumb”? Can you imagine this happening at the Oscars? Probably not, but imagine if it did. Imagine the furor. Imagine all those industry CEOs and suits getting lambasted by celebrities. Okay, I’m dreaming here. Point is: this is a complete failure on the part of copyright and on the part of service providers to do the right thing in the right moment. There’s no logical reason to take down the Worldcon feed. None. The refusal to put the feed back up just makes matters worse. It’s pure dickery to the highest order, and a perfect example of the utter idiocy behind our copyright laws and the people trying to push for further control of the online environment. I’m not happy. A lot of Hugo Awards watchers aren’t happy. And I’m sure the folks behind Worldcon aren’t happy either. Meh. Edit: io9’s take can be found here.
English Majors Study Creative Writing (or, How to Look Like an Idiot)
Apparently some people read “getting a PhD in English” as “getting a PhD in creative writing.” I find this hilarious because it demonstrates a profound ignorance of what studying English entails. Things I don’t do as a PhD student in English (that is as a necessary part of getting my degree):–Meet up for weekly book clubs–Join critique groups–Learn how to write fiction–Read fiction and nothing else–Make up imaginary interpretations for books so that I can sound smart What I actually do:–Read fiction with the intention of understanding its impact on culture (vice versa) or its critiques or its various other components, which are important as product of culture–Read philosophy, theory, history, politics, science, and other types of texts which are relevant to a cultural understanding of literature (in other words, everything relevant to a particular field)–Write essays which incorporate these elements as part of the same argument. (Basically, almost all English studies are Cultural studies these days.)–Anything related to these topics and not related to writing fiction, creative non-fiction, or other forms of non-argumentative of writing. Odd how different they are, no? What would you add to the lists?