Pixel Scroll 5/1/16 Baying and Nothingness

(1) BLACK GATE OUT. Black Gate has withdrawn as a Hugo nominee. Editor John O’Neill explained the decision:

Why did we decline? While we won’t know the exact number of nominating ballots until the stats are released (after the Hugos are awarded), it’s clear that Black Gate largely benefited from Vox Day’s Rabid Puppy Hugo slate. As we reported Wednesday, roughly 80% of this year’s Hugo ballot was dictated by that slate — it swept six categories, including Short Story, Graphic Story, and Fanzine. Our choice to withdraw was informed by many of the same factors that led us to make the same decision last year.

(2) REACTIONS. George R.R. Martin analyzed Black Gate’s “Hugo Withdrawal” at Not A Blog.

This is the second year that BLACK GATE has refused a nomination, so one certainly has to admire them for their consistency. And no one can deny that this is a very difficult decision for those, like BLACK GATE, that were put on the ballot by the Rabids without their consent (it is an easy decision for the Rabids themselves and their allies, of course, most of whom are squealing as happily as pigs in shit).

Since I’m on record as urging the “hostages” to stand their ground, I can’t applaud this decision. But I will not criticize it either. They had a tough call and they made it, consistent with their own politics and principles.

I will quibble, however, about one of their assertions: that even if BLACK GATE had elected to remain on the ballot, they had no chance of winning. I am not going to go so far as to say they were the favorite… but I think they would have had a shot. All five of this year’s nominees were on the Rabid Slate, yes. But two of the five — BLACK GATE and FILE 770 — are clearly hostages, slated without their consent. Despite the success of No Award in last year’s voting, I think the presence of so many hostages this year changes the equation. My hope is that fewer fans will resort to the Nuclear Option. If so, I think FILE 770 will win here… but BLACK GATE would have given Glyer’s zine its strongest competition. Oh, and yes, No Award will be contending too. TANGENT might have a very slim outside chance.

(3) THE 100% SOLUTION. What could be simpler? Send this tweet to the Hugo Administrators forthwith!

(4) SANDIFER. Phil Sandifer asserts “Vox Day Put A Child Pornographer On The Hugo Ballot”.

For obvious reasons, I will not be providing links here, however I am happy to provide them privately to anyone with a legitimate interest in the information, including law enforcement.

It was brought to my attention today that “kukuruyo,” one of the artists that Vox Day put on the Rabid Puppies slate in Best Fan Artist and that made it onto the Hugo Ballot recently posted to his blog a commissioned drawing of comic book character Ms. Marvel in which her genitalia is clearly visible and provocatively displayed. Ms. Marvel – whose comic won last year’s Hugo for Best Graphic Story – is a sixteen-year-old girl in the comics. Under US law, this would seem to legally be child pornography.

Although the drawing post-dates Day’s placement of the artist on his slate, the hypocrisy of Vox Day endorsing the work of a child pornographer is particularly glaring given that he continues to throw childish insults like this around…

(5) DAY SAYS NAY. Vox Day says it ain’t so:

A few relevant points that collectively demonstrate the utter absurdity of Pedophil’s libel:

  • Kukuruyo has stated that he didn’t know the fictitious age of the Marvel cartoon character, Ms Marvel, and drew her as a 20-year-old.
  • I am reliably informed that Ms Marvel was 16 when she was introduced in 2013. That makes her at least 18 now, possibly 19.
  • The age of consent in Spain is 16. Kukuruyo is Spanish, lives in Spain, and US law is not relevant to his activities.
  • The drawing cannot be child pornography regardless of what age the fictitious character is supposed to be. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that drawings and computer representations are not child pornography.
  • Phil Sandifer has admitted that he was aware of the Supreme Court ruling when he made the accusation.
  • The Ms Marvel drawing was drawn and posted well after I recommended Kukuruyo, who draws GamerGate Life, for the Hugo Award.

SJWs always project. This is more than a little alarming in this particular case.

(5) ARISTOTLE. Vox Day announced he has banned Camestros Felapton from commenting at Vox Popoli, in a lengthy post titled “Of enthymemes and false erudition”.

In other words, Felapton has confused Aristotle’s admonition to use rhetoric in the service of the truth with Aristotle’s definitions of what rhetoric is as well as with his instructions on how to use rhetoric effectively. In fact, Aristotle makes it clear that both dialectic and rhetoric can be used impartially on either side of an argument, although it is much easier to identify the deceptive use of dialectic due to its reliance on complete syllogisms and strict logic than it is the deceptive use of rhetoric due to its incomplete structure and its reliance on apparent truths that are accepted by the audience.

What Felapton calls “bollocks” and “bullshit” is nothing more than what Aristotle calls “apparent truth”. But, as we have seen, rhetoric can rely upon these apparent truths just as readily as upon actual truths. And in this particular application, my rhetoric, even structurally reliant as it is upon apparent truth rather than actual truth, is more persuasive, and therefore more effective, than Slate’s rhetoric, in part for the obvious reason that it is absolutely true.

(5) BANNED FROM ARGO. Camestros Felapton’s attitude was, “Cool! Banned by Vox!”.

My claim is that I can’t reward obnoxious behavior by Castalia House. Nothing to do with the genetic fallacy. Vox concedes that I raise one valid point, which is that “there is no way of separating what is published by Castalia from how Castalia promotes itself and its published works.” That is the ethical basis of my position and Vox concedes that it is valid and not fallacious.

What is more interesting is Vox losing his cool. That is a major departure from his play book and poor tactics. He is actually rattled? Surely not by me, so I assume it must be by Philip Sandifer’s campaign.

(6) FELAPTON AMERICA. As part of our all-Felapton-all-the-time coverage, we must also mention his “Review: Captain America: Civil War”.

Films in a sequence or series that have a job to do (i.e. get the plot from A to B, join one film to another etc) can often be weak. Films with obvious required plot beats can be dull. Films that are obliged to shoe-horn in characters (particularly superhero movies that have to fit in a required number of villains or heroes) can be boring and over stuffed.

I think, on balance, Civil War manages to just avoid each of these obstacles. It isn’t as tense and tight as Winter Soldier but it feels a lot more plot driven and focused than Age of Ultron. It is arguably the most dark and bleak of the current crop of Marvel films, with substantially less humor.

(7) CATHOUSE. Camestros Felapton’s cat, Timothy, is also demanding a share of the attention. Timothy is going into publishing: “New From Cattimothy House”.

There will be WALRUS COMP

This is the sort of development for which the cry “Mayday!” was invented…

(8) OTHER PEOPLE’S FILES. Jeff VanderMeer wonders “What to Do With 30-Plus Years of Papers, Drafts, Correspondence, Projects?”

One project for this year is to get a handle on 30-plus years of papers, correspondence, rough drafts, and what I would call “project histories.” This includes a lot of material from before email and the internet, which means sometimes quite long letters with other writers and people in publishing, some of them well-known at the time and some of them now quite well-known but obscure then. It also includes all of my wife Ann VanderMeer’s correspondence and history with projects like her indie press mag The Silver Web (fiction and art) and from her five-year stint at Weird Tales. And because we were active in small press in the 1980s-90s, there’s a treasure trove of old issues of horror and fantasy magazines not only now defunct but also not much mentioned on the internet, because they existed pre-internet or just on the cusp.

(9) ASTERISKS. Kary English points out her exchange in comments on David Gerrold’s recent Facebook post about the Sasquan asterisks.

Kary English: I was hurt by the asterisks. They were displayed on a table at the pre-Hugo reception, and I walked by the table without taking one. I was approached by a couple of people during the reception who wanted to make sure I got mine. Some of them were well-meaning and probably didn’t know who I was, and some of them seemed to want to make sure I got mine in a not so nice way. After several instances of saying “no, thank you,” I finally accepted one because it was clear that not holding one was making me a target for further attempts to get me to take one. To be honest, the whole thing felt like that creepy guy who maneuvers you into a situation where you have to choose between letting him give you a completely inappropriate hug or making a scene in public. I would also like to push back against the idea that those of us who were hurt went there looking to be hurt, or that those of us who were hurt deserved to be hurt (said by someone in a recent File 770 roundup). This is victim blaming, and it is not OK.

David Gerrold replied:

I apologize. I feel bad about causing you pain. That was never the intention and it saddens me to hear that you were hurt. You are a talented Hugo-worthy writer. I thought your story Totaled deserved to be on the ballot, and I thought it was worthy of the trophy. I also liked Shattered Vessels in a recent issue of Galaxy’s Edge, so I look forward to seeing your next outing. I expect you will have more opportunities in the future to take home a Hugo. You have my best wishes, as well as my admiration for work well done

Kary English accepted the apology:

Thank you, David. Apology accepted, and that’s very gracious of you to say.

(10) ANIMAL RESCUE. Burt Ward, Robin the Boy Wonder from the 1960s Batman TV series, and his wife Tracy, say their nonprofit Gentle Giant Rescue has rescued more than 14,000 dogs in the last 18 years.

(11) THIS ANIMAL RESCUED ITSELF. io9 in “Read Alien, retold from the cat’s perspective”, excerpts a no-longer-published work.

Only one character in Alien has the wits and wherewithal to survive to the end of the movie at Ripley’s side: Jones the cat. While everyone else on Nostromo was screaming like chickens with their chests ripped open, Jones exhibited the cool becoming a cat. Now Jones finally gets to tell his side of the story, one filled with naps, food, and yes, the occasional alien.

Novelist and film critic Anne Billson wrote “My Day by Jonesy,” a recap of the first Alien film from Jones’ point of view. Apparently, Jones spent most of the film fretting over his food and being annoyed that the humans (or “can openers” as he calls them) keep waking him up from his naps…

(12) SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. Jen Yamato of The Daily Beast speculates “Why the Original Darth Vader Is Now ‘Persona Non Grata’ at Star Wars Events”.

Forty years ago on a soundstage just across the pond, British actor David Prowse donned a shiny black helmet and became the most iconic movie villain in history—until Star Wars director George Lucas overdubbed his performance as Darth Vader with the dulcet, booming voice of James Earl Jones.

Prowse, now 80 years old, still hasn’t gotten over the snub that simultaneously made his career. But there’s a bigger disturbance between the O.G. Vader and the architect of the Star Wars universe.

In the new documentary Elstree 1976—about the hopes, dreams, and rather mundane real lives of the supporting actors and background extras cast in the original Star Wars—Prowse sounds off on the beef with Lucas that’s made him “persona non grata” at the billion dollar franchise’s biggest annual conventions.

Interviewed at his home two years ago for the film, Prowse says he has no idea why he has been “barred” from Star Wars Celebration—the biggest Star Wars event on the fan convention circuit where he, like many former cast members and celebs of yesteryear, now makes much of his income.

“Unfortunately I’ve been barred for some obscure reason—also [from] Disney Star Wars Weekends. Ask Mr. Lucas,” he adds with a bittersweet shrug. “I’ve obviously upset him at some stage or another. And they just feel I’m persona non grata at those two shows.” …

[Thanks to JJ, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Will R.]

356 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 5/1/16 Baying and Nothingness

  1. Oneiros on May 5, 2016 at 7:40 pm said:

    @Soon Lee: is anything not a dick joke in New Zealand?

    They are actually just duck jokes – the accent causes misunderstandings

  2. snowcrash:
    But wouldn’t that just involve more dongs headed your way?

    Therein lies the problem with the Xanadong Gambit.

  3. A problem that Arisdongle no doubt solved with his well-known priapic method

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