If You Give Del Arroz Publicity

By Camestros Felapton:

If you give Del Arroz publicity
He’s going to ask for an interview.
When you give him the interview
He’ll probably ask for a review.
When he’s got his review
He’ll ask you about your con.
Then he’ll want to be on a panel
To make sure you aren’t political.
And if you invite him as a guest
He might notice you’re an SJW.
So he might give you a stern lecture
About how you are spoiling all the fun
…so maybe you won’t invite him.
But then he’ll be upset
And he’ll talk to everybody
About how you wouldn’t let him in.
So you’ll end up talking about him
And give Del Arroz publicity.

39 thoughts on “If You Give Del Arroz Publicity

  1. Speaking of Jonny Dee —
    (who BTW doesn’t pronounce his name in the Spanish way, nor does he ever claim to be Hispanic unless he can do it for a grievance/to help his sense of entitlement… mostly he insists on being thought of as White.)

    Somefen who shall remain nameless are giving out ribbons at Baycon that say “Prominent Local Author”. In Papyrus, of course, the most pretentious and trite of all fonts (Note please that these persons are NOT part of the Con staff — just long-time attendees).

    By the authority bestowed upon us by a shiny ribbon with fancy hologram-ish edging, a couple hundred of the attendees are Prominent Local Authors! (Quite a number of them actually ARE)

    Someone else was explaining what the deal was and the kerfuffle to yet another someone at a party, with reference to hissy fits, Twitter, FB, and (yes) File 770. Mind you, the immediate response to his name has consistently been “Who?” and after explanation, many go, “Oh, THAT guy.” Nobody out of the people who’d been at the con last year remembered him, but plenty had noticed his bad behavior recently.

    After the kerfuffle, the Puppy-ness, his lying, etc. were explained, I brightly popped up with “AND he’s the Most Important Hispanic SF author!”

    At which point, with a look of disgust, Ty Franck (half of “James SA Corey”, of The Expanse books and TV show), piped up “I’M Hispanic.”

    Which, trufax, he is. He told a story yesterday about how his mom and grandma were no-fooling migrant farm workers.

    So there.

    Jonny’s not even the most prominent Hispanic SF author to have been a guest at this one local con recently.

    (Another fan allowed as how Philip Jose Farmer was probably reconstituting his atoms to contest the self-identification.)

    ————————————
    BTW, the con’s going great. So many new faces! Lots of people who weren’t on panels before, many people who hadn’t ever been to the con before, bunch of children, teens, and twenty-somethings, people who hadn’t been to the con in years and are happy to be back.

    Peter Beagle is getting All Of The Love, singing and selling a ton of books.

    Parties are quite good; the Expanse Ceres Bar party is happenin’ every night, as is the Royal Manticorean Navy in their dress uniforms. Both have compromised and are holding their parties at 1 standard Earth gravity for the comfort of us Terrans.

  2. Great job!

    I’m not really surprised by his behavior. I mean, when your name, literally translated, means, “Jon of the rice”, it probably subconsciously gets to you.

    Where I grew up, he’d have heard that at least three or four times a week from pretty much everybody throughout grade school. Like being called “Reynolds Wrap”. Or a boy with the last name of Bates the first time someone jokingly called him “Master Bates”.

    I’ll go back to the corner now.

  3. Where I grew up, he’d have heard that at least three or four times a week from pretty much everybody throughout grade school. Like being called “Reynolds Wrap”. Or a boy with the last name of Bates the first time someone jokingly called him “Master Bates”.

    My last name is pronounced “sour”, and I heard it all going through grade school. I don’t consider it an excuse to be rude to others. (Granted, I have no trouble coming up with other excuses, but still.)

  4. (who BTW doesn’t pronounce his name in the Spanish way, nor does he ever claim to be Hispanic unless he can do it for a grievance/to help his sense of entitlement… mostly he insists on being thought of as White.)

    Scrutinizing his claim to be the top Hispanic author is fair, but I don’t think we should be questioning his Hispanic bona fides or the pronunciation of his name. That’s something we’d go nuts about on File 770 if a puppy was doing it.

  5. @rcade: “He’s so vain…” – ::snort::

    @rcade & @lurkertype: Name pronunciations shift for all kinds of reasons, but rarely. Most-or-all folks I know pronounce their name like their parents do/did. So, picking on how he pronounces his name seems IMHO as childish as the kids who occasionally called me “candle” instead of “Kendall.”

    (BTW I can’t imagine how else to pronounce “arroz.” “arrows”? “ares”??? @lurkertype, you have me curious how he normally says it.)

    (That’s the only part that bugs me above, BTW.)

  6. P.S. These days, presumably if I were a kid, I’d be teased by being called “Kindle” instead of “candle.” 😛

  7. There is a guy that is in the local news occasionally because he died in a hazing indecent at Clemson. His name was “Tucker Hips.” I can never help but think that he must have heard so, so many variations on that growing up.

  8. @Nancy Sauer

    My last name is pronounced “sour”

    “Sauer” also mean “sour” in German and it’s definitely the sort of name that would get you stupid jokes in school.

    At my highschool, there was a girl named Ninja who was the butt of a lot of jokes, especially during the height of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze. Her parents had no idea what ninjas were (and neither did the registrar apparently, since they are supposed to block names that would expose a kid to ridicule) – they simply thought it was a cool name.

    I also dodged a bullet, because if I’d been a boy, my parents would have called me Dino.

  9. @lurkertype – I’m feeling the FOMO now. I need to make it to the next Baycon. I haven’t been to a con in 9 years, and never to a con that wasn’t primarily comic-oriented.

  10. I’ve often wondered how often it came up that a certain rabid puppy had Native American heritage when he was growing up in North Oaks, MN, a gated community with (at the time) the highest per capita income in the state.

  11. (Dellarose. Rhymes with rose or arrows. No rolling rrrrr.)

    I went to high school with a kid named Marshall Dillon. Yes, “Gunsmoke” had been on for 10 years before he was born, and only off the air a few years before I met him. Yes, he was fairly annoyed with his parents. Particularly as he was a small thin cherubic artistic type. We took pity on him and stopped the remarks after a few token ones, because he was a nice kid and we were pretty annoyed with his parents too.

  12. Lurkertype: Glad you’re having a great time at Baycon! One of these years I’ll get back over there and attend again.

    (Although I’m slightly glad I didn’t this year, as the kitty died suddenly Friday afternoon.)

  13. @ katster
    Many condolences on the loss of your kitty. I know what it’s like.

  14. @Msb

    Thank you. It’s been hard, the furball was a big part of the family. We’ll probably be getting a kitten in a couple months — take the time to mourn our lost one first.

    -kat

  15. My wife Kirsten and I were the ones distributing the Prominent Local Author ribbons, and the reaction was amazing. We brought 200, and they were almost gone by Saturday night.

    We’ve been going to, working at, or doing panels at BayCon for almost 30 years. Jon D. barely registered on my consciousness. Some folks burst out laughing when they saw them, and this was the first time I had people tracking me down for my ribbon. Guess that makes me a Prominent Ribbon Guy.

    I’m wondering if he even comprehends how many bridges he’s burned in the last several weeks. Several people I spoke with described Jon D. as a former friend rather strongly.

    The Con itself was awesome. I was able to attend several amazing panels, saw a lot of new faces, and almost tricked Chris Garcia out of a Hugo.

  16. katster, I’m so sorry about the loss of your beloved companion. I hope that your good memories will be a comfort.

  17. Oh, katster, I’m so sorry. But glad you were home for it. I hope you and kathodus can make it next year. The only objection I have is that the hotel layout is freaking ridiculous (there’s a reason it’s called the “Escher Marriott”).

    I’ve been going to Baycon even longer than Doug (although not working it) and nobody, be it long time attendees or the kids remembered Jonny D… except for the ones who’d known him before and now refuse to have anything to do with him. You think WE’RE irritated, you oughta see them. In one discussion, I said he was a snowflake, and one of the above said firmly, “No, he’s a special cupcake.” I don’t know what that means, but there ya go. It’s worse than being a special snowflake.

    I enjoyed seeing all the young’uns as well as the old regulars. It was a nice mix. All the parties were good too. Jon might have had a good time if he’d been able to get over his massive entitlement complex and attend like the rest of us.

    Hope he’s gotten enough egoboo from the Puppies to tide him over, because he’s not going to be invited to a whole lot more cons. Both Northern and Southern California fandom are completely over him.

  18. (It was the cupcake person, who knew him before, who said it was interesting how he’d never claimed to be Hispanic before — that he did his best to fit the epitome of entitled white guy. Since I don’t remember him, I merely report their thinking.)

    I’m still laughing remembering the expression on Ty’s face when he said, “I’M Hispanic.” And I think he’s a smidge more important/prominent/heavy cred than Jonny boy.

  19. Thank you again, everybody.

    My sister and I went through a lot of photographs of our lost girl, and I think the most SFnal is this one.(She’s sleeping on a fanzine and a convention progress report.)

    But this is one of the best pictures of her in general.

  20. What a beautiful kitty! The second one is very good, it’s hard to photograph black cats and get their features revealed.

  21. My wife Kirsten and I were the ones distributing the Prominent Local Author ribbons, and the reaction was amazing. We brought 200, and they were almost gone by Saturday night.

    Nice! That was an epic response to the folderol.

  22. We must all disavow the comment mocking my last name on here. That’s extremely racist. I’m all for you guys having fun, I mean it was a cute poem (props!), but that’s over the line. Keep it friendly cuz that ain’t right and I know you’d be opposed to that kind of thing anywhere else!

    Thank you LurkerType for letting me know everyone at Baycon couldn’t stop talking me to the point where you had to write 400 words on it and someone made ribbons. If you could me get one of those, I’d love one for posterity! Cute again. LMK I’ll send you my address.

  23. Ha ha ha ha ha, you’re such a funny guy, Jon!

    I see you only counted the words and didn’t read or comprehend them. Plus you don’t know that I can write 1500 words on anything and you weren’t worth that.

    Also, you were incapable of understanding that the conversations I reported covered a whole 10 minutes in 3 different places. That’s how important you are. We spent about 3.3 minutes at a time laughing at how ridiculous you are. Mostly while eating and drinking.

    I gather you were discussed rather more extensively and in even worse terms than that by the people who run the con, though. Same with the people who run cons other places. Hope Puppies have a con to invite you to!

    Oh wait, Puppies don’t run their own cons or awards because it’s hard work…

    BTW, you sure you wanna keep beating that “Hispanic” drum so hard? Ya boy Trump ain’t so keen on that — been deporting them and hassling those who are citizens. And aren’t you afraid if you keep living in California, you might catch liberal cooties? Wouldn’t want you to learn anything like kindness and generosity.

    And PS — you missed that the comment about your last name was immediately abjured by lots of people here. And the fact that the ribbons weren’t mine. I really encourage you to see a full-priced non-Obamacare doctor to have a checkup to see if you have any vision problems.

    I’m sure an author couldn’t possibly be as terrible as reading comprehension as you appear to be on here. Maybe you’re just literally just not seeing some things. Sad!

  24. @Jon Del Arroz: Disavow? Well, no. No one need disavow things they didn’t say. I criticized it, but I completely disagree anyone needs to jump on any bandwagon o’ disavowing.

    And no, the comment was not racist (extremely or otherwise).

    It sounds like the ribbons were all over the place; sorry you missed them? (I wasn’t at Baycon.) I’m unclear on whether they were a jab at you, or just something randomly silly. This may be my own reading comprehension problem. The ribbon seems like a cute idea all on its own, but IMHO less so if it’s a jab at someone specific. (You’re far from the first author with an inflated sense of self-importance, which is why I think it’s a cute idea as a non-specific tweak at self-important authors.)

    #NotAllAuthors 😛

  25. @katster: Gah, I meant to say the other day – I’m very sorry for your loss!

  26. Jon Del Arroz: We must all disavow the comment mocking my last name on here. That’s extremely racist. I’m all for you guys having fun, I mean it was a cute poem (props!), but that’s over the line. Keep it friendly cuz that ain’t right and I know you’d be opposed to that kind of thing anywhere else!

    As I said in our conversation on FB, name humor is fundamentally unfunny. Ethnic name humor is offensive.

  27. The ribbons were made with the intention of mocking Jon Del Arroz. They worked beautifully.

    Jon, most conversations about you consisted mainly of people asking who the hell you were, then, after an explanation, mutual agreement that you earned this mocking. We were laughing at you, Jon, not with you. I had more conversations about that most, as I was one of the few people passing out the ribbons, so I can say with some assurance that most people rolled their eyes at the mention of your name.

    I do find it amusing that you tried to friend me on Facebook, and tried to hit up one of the convention’s Chairs for a Prominent Local Author ribbon (why you would think he would have extras when it was Kirsten and me who designed and ordered them is left as an exercise for the reader. So please, educate us. Why would a snowflake Trump supporter who can’t handle not getting invited to speak at a con want to be friends with a liberal Democratic Socialist who wants to see single-payer health and a Universal Basic Income all paid for by a 90% top tax rate?

    Let me essay a guess. You want to play the victim. Again. You’ll cry that I’m being mean to you, and the con is run by poopy heads that refuse to acknowledge that you are the most important Hispanic voice in science-fiction (your claim, not mine) and that somehow none of this is your fault for being an arrogant, pompous, ass.

    Grow the hell up. You got asked to not be a panelist for one year. Odds are you probably would have been asked back in 2018. You think any Bay Area conrunner wants to deal with you now? Congratulations man, you’ve destroyed your reputation in near record time.

  28. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Douglas Berry. applause

    In fact, most people wearing the ribbons had no idea what the impetus behind it was. I spoke to a lot of people who had no idea. (I didn’t know till I ran into Doug a couple days into the con.) They just thought it was funny on its own (there are plenty of pompous authors, like Kendall said) and were glad to get a shiny ribbon. Because shiny ribbons are neat to stick to your badge.

    Only if they asked were they told. The responses were either “Who?”, “Oh, THAT guy”, or “Oh, THAT asshole.” Mostly “Who?” which argues against prominence.

    @Doug: he tried to hit me up for one, and I’m not the originator of the ribbon, nor a chair, nor anything but J. Random Fan! After you already said they were yours. Reading comprehension is not Jon’s strong point.

    It’s his own whiny, entitled arrogance that means he won’t get asked back. Attacking the con and lying about it in public — of course they won’t ask him back! If he’d kept his mouth shut, he probably could have been on programming next year.

    If he had integrity, he could have paid like the rest of us to show up this year and done the networking thing like most people do, setting up for a programming invite next year. Instead, he preferred to burn all the bridges and whine like a crybaby.

    Other cons now know what his behavior is. Every concom in the English-speaking world now knows Jon’s toxic and much more trouble than he’s worth.

    I’ll send him a slightly-used ribbon for a $250 donation to Emily’s List. http://www.emilyslist.org/

    I guess Jon didn’t have any friends at Baycon to get a ribbon for him? Sad!

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