Show creators, tired of the crazy wing of your fanbase? Here’s how to get rid of them.

By:  TempestElsewhere on the Internets
Show creators, tired of the crazy wing of your fanbase? Here's how to get rid of them.

I bet that if producers/writers knew that this was a quick and easy way to put crazy fangirls off of their fandom they would have done it a long time ago.

So there’s this show called Supernatural. I don’t watch it but I do know that it’s about two brothers who investigate supernatural goings on. I also know that the actors who play these brothers are hotties.  And the show has a pretty intense fanbase. That was the extent of my knowledge until recently.

Since I don’t watch this show, I was unaware until a little bit ago that a lot of the fanfic written for it is slash between the two brothers. Yes. Slash. In the fandom it’s called Wincest because their last names are Winchester.

Yes, you read right.

Anyway, over on Fandom Wank there’s a very amusing entry about a recent episode in which the brothers discover that there’s some fangirl out there writing novels based on their adventures (within the world of the show).  They also find out that there are people online writing stories about them. When they go to look they find a lot of Wincest.  A lot.

After this episode aired, apparently the fandom became extremely not happy. They didn’t like the depiction of fangirls (as crazy, crazy people who are crazy) and they particularly didn’t like the brothers refering to incest slash as “sick”.

I’m going to pause a moment and let that sink in.

The fandom is upset because the characters they love (and the writers who create them) are not down with incest.

Yeah.

Anyway, seems many fangirls are saying they are so hurt and betrayed and etc. that they will stop watching and other such mumblings.  I have to say, that was a really effective way to drive a certain segment of the fandom away, Supernatural writers. Kudos if that was your goal.

I am perhaps being overly harsh and on a high horse. But this fandom is vying with the Twilight and Harry Potter fandoms for amounts of intense foolishness. Just a few days ago Delux pointed me to a Supernatural fan post where these girls were serving up some serious haterade because they went to an autographing session for one of the brothers and were appalled and angry that his girlfriend dared to be there! She harshed their fansquee!  How dare she bring them all down by reminding them that he has sex with someone who is not them? Read it — you must understand the depths of entitlement and freakitude.

I’m sure many other TV shows have fandoms with completely inappropriate people like this. Now you know how to quell them! Go forth and write some episode wherein characters decide that incest is wrong and you will stomp on the hearts of non-balanced slashers everywhere.

(I should add here that I have no particular issue with fandom in general. I am a fandom, I have participated in fandoms, I enjoy fanfic sometimes, I love that people can love a show or book or movie or whatever so much that inspires them to do all sorts of cool stuff. But the rantings above are for times whe Fandom Goes Wrong.)

The Interstitial Arts Foundation Needs Some People-Power!

By:  TempestGeekitude

Many of you who follow my blog know that last year I helped coordinate the Interfictions auction for the IAF. We got some amazing jewelry artists to create pieces based on the stories in Interfictions then auctioned them off to raise money for the second volume. Interfictions 2 will be out this fall (November or thereabouts) and to celebrate we’re having another auction!

This is all many months away, but we’re going to start soliciting artists right now and getting the ball rolling. I will have more information about that next week. For right now, I have a different solicitation. We need folks to help us make this auction happen.  The more help we have the less everyone involved has to do. I know there are many talented and generous people amongst my friends and acquaintances, so I’m putting the word out to you.  Here are the positions we need to fill:

Project Manager — Like the title says.  Someone to coordinate efforts, keep people on task, set goals, and be an organizational goddess (or god). This person can work from anywhere as long as you have reliable Internet access.

Assistant to the PM — We’d like this person to be in NYC; support the PM, help facilitate communications, and act as primary artist liaison.

Web Assistant / Marketing — I’m going to need a person to help me with the web stuff, including getting the auction and individual pieces linked around, updating our Twitter and Facebook, maybe even doing a little work in WordPress.  This person can work from anywhere.

Photographer / Image Editor — Needs to be based in NYC.  Someone who is already set up to take pictures of products/jewelry (like having a lightbox or similar) and who also knows how to fiddle with images in photoshop to color correct and prettify.

Mailing Coordinator — Needs to be in NYC. Someone who is willing to receive all of the art and update the master list, get the art to the photographer and get it back again, then ship it out to auction winners.

Also, if you are an artist who participated in the last auction, we’d like your help in the choosing artists phase (which will mostly involve emailing people).

All of this is on a volunteer basis and hopefully will not take up more then a few hours of your time each week.  If you’re interested in taking on any of these roles, please contact me here and let me know.

The Jewelry I Made This Weekend

By:  TempestJewelry
The Jewelry I Made This Weekend

For those of you not subscribed to the Raven’s Nest feed (or the LJ syn, it exists!), here are the pieces I made this weekend based on the votes and such:

Optimism in the Face of Darkness
Optimism in the Face of Darkness

Sanguine Spring Pendant
Sanguine Spring Pendant

Sanguine Spring Bracelet
Sanguine Spring Bracelet

They are for sale. Just click the pics. (You’ll be able to see hi-res images, too.)

There’s also a new Reader’s Choice today in honor of Jill Sobule, one of my favorite musicians. She has a new album out soon.

Suggest some new comment avatars

By:  TempestGeekitude

Those of you who read or comment on my posts here on the site (instead of just LJ) know that WordPress assigns avatars to everyone who comments. The assignments are generally random, though after you make three comments you can choose one to be yours whenever you post.

The theme for the avatars is: POC in genre media.  TV, movies, comics, anything visual. My list is pretty comprehensive, btu I am missing some.  And every now and then people tell me so. Of course I always forget later.

So! Here’s your chance. Take a look at all of the avatars I have so far and tell me who I am missing.  Can be any genre media of any time from anywhere. Just let me know character name, show, etc. also, if you have a link to a good image, stick that in. It makes things easier on me.

Sound Wave Bracelet

By:  TempestJewelry

This is so cool.  The Sound Advice Project is a website where you can record a short message to your kids which is translated into a visual representation of soundwaves which is then turned into a bracelet you can give your kid. It’s really awesome! You can customize the colors and the prices look very reasonable — $18 – $25 or so for a bracelet.

I found this on Popgadget and I agree that it would make a great gift for anyone.  Imagine recording “Will You Marry Me?” and then giving it as a gift?

I can already see the awesome possibilities in custom jewelry — take the sound wave bit and create a necklace for it, or even make a long, dangly earring.

If I were creating a special piece of jewelry for someone, I’d definitely consider this.

The Return of Shiny Things

By:  TempestShiny Things
The Return of Shiny Things

In between the 10 million other things I have been and need to be doing, I spent a couple of hours last night updating The Raven’s Nest, my little portfolio/blog for jewelry and prayer beads. As I mentioned not too long ago, I want to start beading again to make a little extra money. Now more than ever, right?

The site is now all controlled via WordPress with galleries conveniently taken care of by the Flickr Photo Album plugin. There’s an RSS feed and an email notification thing.  No LJ-syndication of said feed yet because I don’t have a paid account anymore. I’ll start selling stuff as soon as I make it.

Speaking of: remember me mentioning that I wanted to make a game out of it? I solidified that idea into a feature on the site called Reader’s Choice. That is, you pick the beads and the theme, I then work within those constraints. Check out the first post and vote and stuff!

Electric Velocipede 17/18 Cover

By:  TempestNews

On the heels of the stunning Federations cover comes this from the next issue of Electric Velocipede:

Electric Velocipede 17-18

(click to embiggen)

Isn’t it lovely? Also, I must point out that I’m sharing a TOC with fellow Altered Fluidians Mercurio D. Rivera and Matthew Kressel.  Also of note: Richard Bowes, Yoon Ha Lee, and Caroline Yoachim.

Yes, I do see Will Shetterly, too. I am trying to pretend he is not there.

There are plenty of fabulous writers in this issue and you must buy it.  You know you want to.  If you don’t buy and read it, well…

Read Electric Velocipede