Pixel Scroll 3/27/18 Godstalk It, Jake, It’s Pixel Scroll

(1) READ THE GAME. The Read it Forward site is celebrating Ready Player One’s theatrical debut this week with an interactive 8-bit-inspired excerpt that “gamifies” the prologue from Ernest Cline’s novel. [Click on the GIF to view.]

Read your way to the top of the Scoreboard as you earn points for discovering Easter eggs that bring the content to life. As readers learn of Parzival’s hunt for the keys to OASIS, they’ll maneuver their way around a maze, attend an ‘80s dance party, unlock footnotes, and more. Upon completion, readers can add their name to a Scoreboard and share their score with a link to the excerpt on social media. All of the excerpt’s hidden extras are unlocked once a reader earns the maximum score of 10,000 points.

(2) TV INTEREST IN THREE-BODY PROBLEM. From io9: “Report: Amazon May Pay $1 Billion to Adapt the Hugo-Winning Chinese Novel The Three-Body Problem”.

The Hugo-winning Chinese novel The Three-Body Problem could become Amazon’s Game of Thrones. A new report from Financial Times suggests Amazon is pursuing a deal to make a three-season television show based on the trilogy from Liu Cixin, and it may be willing to pay up to $1 billion to do so.

According to the Financial Times report, international investors say Amazon is negotiating for the rights to produce three seasons based on Remembrance of Earth’s Past, the scifi trilogy more commonly known by the title of its first book, The Three-Body Problem.

In a statement reported by Chinese news outlets, YooZoo Pictures stated that it remains the sole owners for the film and TV rights for The Three-Body Problem, though it didn’t comment on whether Amazon had approached the company or were in talks with them to collaborate on this reported streaming project. Cixin was also asked about this development by Chinese news outlet MTime.com, where he revealed he knew nothing about the project and doesn’t know if he’d be invited to work on it.

(3) DISSENTING VOICE. In contrast to those looking forward to the movie, Vox says “The Ready Player One book used to be considered a fun romp. Then Gamergate happened,” in “The Ready Player One backlash, explained”.

A time traveler from 2011 could be forgiven for being deeply confused by this response. In 2011, Ready Player One was beloved. It was “a guaranteed pleasure.” It was “witty.” It was not only “a simple bit of fun” but also “a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”

What gives? How did the consensus on a single book go from “exuberant and meaningful fun!” to “everything that is wrong with the internet!” over the span of seven years?

… But the main thing Ready Player One is doing is telling those ’80s-boy-culture-obsessed gamers that they matter, that in fact they are the most important people in the universe. That knowing every single goddamn word of Monty Python and the Holy Grail can have life-or-death stakes, because why shouldn’t it? (Yes, that is a crucial step in Wade’s battle to save the OASIS.)

For readers in Cline’s target demographic in 2011, that message felt empowering. For readers who weren’t, it felt like a harmless piece of affirmation meant for someone else. Everyone deserves a silly escapist fantasy, right? And since Cline’s silly escapist fantasy wasn’t specifically meant for girls — unlike, say, Twilight, which was getting savaged in popular culture at the timeReady Player One was largely left alone by the people it wasn’t built for…

(4) ASHBY STORY. This month’s entry in the Future Tense Fiction series, “Domestic Violence” by Madeline Ashby, is a free read at Slate.

A partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University, Future Tense explores how emerging technologies will change the way we live. The latest consumer gadgets are intriguing, but we focus on the longer-term transformative power of robotics, information and communication technologies, synthetic biology, augmented reality, space exploration, and other technologies. Future Tense seeks to understand the latest technological and scientific breakthroughs, and what they mean for our environment, how we relate to one another, and what it means to be human. Future Tense also examines whether technology and its development can be governed democratically and ethically.

And there’s also a response essay from Ian Harris, who works on technology issues with the National Network to End Domestic Violence: “The Complicated Relationship Between Abuse and Tech”.

Violence against women is having something of a moment right now. Which is to say, portrayals of domestic violence in film and TV are gaining critical acclaim. Through shows like Big Little Lies and movies like I, Tonya, popular culture is grappling with more nuanced representations of domestic violence and the humanity of survivors of abuse. These are important conversations, and I hope that this is the start of a profound societal transformation, though time will tell. For me, the most disturbing part of these portrayals is not the brutality of the assaults, but how frequently physical violence is prioritized over other types of abusive behavior. It is what we don’t see that worries me.

We see this distorted prioritization in real life, too. I’ve been a domestic violence attorney for more than a decade. Despite the long list of clients who have struggled to get the justice system to live up to its name, I have found that survivors are much more likely to get help for physical assaults than for other kinds of abusive behavior such as stalking, surveillance, harassment, and intimate image disclosures, which frequently feel more harmful to the survivor.

(5) AVENGERS PLUG. A new TV spot for Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War.

The end is near. One month until Avengers: Infinity War.

 

(6) SEARCH FOR DIVERSE FICTION. Rocket Stack Rank has another new feature. Greg Hullender explains:

In response to readers who wanted a way to find good stories by diverse authors, we did an analysis of the most-recommended short speculative fiction stories written by people of color in 2015 and 2016 — “Best People of Color SF/F of 2015-2016”.

This only looks at stories that got some sort of recognition (e.g. solid recommendation from a prolific reviewer, inclusion in a years-best anthology, finalist for a major award), so just 481 stories across those two years. Of those, 112 were written by people of color.

The credit for this work goes to Eric Wong, who did the hard work of looking up information on all the authors as well as customizing the software to let readers group the data different ways.

(7) BLOWN UP, SIR. In “This teacher aims to get kids fired up about chemistry”, the Washington Post’s Kitson Jazynka profiles University of Texas chemistry instructor Kate Biberdorf, who “breathes fire and makes explosions that blast the eyes out of jack-o-lanterns.”

Or what about one who, with a quick pour of potassium iodide into a mix of hydrogen peroxide, dish soap and food coloring, makes bubbly foam that shoots toward the ceiling? Kate Biberdorf is no imaginary teacher. She’s real, and she’s coming to Washington next month, bringing along her blowtorch and cornstarch, her supplies of liquid nitrogen and dry ice, and a lot of enthusiasm for chemistry.

Bibersdorf’s website is http://katethechemist.com/.  How could Filers NOT be interested in a woman who says her goal in life is “to have an explosive science show in Vegas?”

(8) HELP BILL SPENCER. Paul Di Filippo urges readers to support a GoFundMe that will “Give Back to Bill Spencer”.

We all need a little help sometimes. This is one of those times for Bill. He has several different health issues going on right now and the medical expenses he is incurring that are not covered through Medicare are mounting and could get much worse.   As well, he’s facing some unforeseeable out of pocket expenses that could potentially end up being a serious problem.   Right now, Bill simply doesn’t have enough for monthly bills, day to day living expenses and numerous co-pays that keep coming his way for various medical necessities.

Many readers know Bill as the award-winning writer William Browning Spencer, author of novels like Zod Wallop, Resume with Monsters and short-story collections like his latest, The Unorthodox Dr. Draper and Other Stories.

But Bill has contributed to others in a very different way as well.  By freely and graciously donating endless amounts of his time over the years to sponsoring and supporting people who are facing their own daunting problems related to alcohol, drugs and living life.  It’s time to give back to Bill what he has so freely given.

This is something Bill would never ask for himself, but he is one of my best friends and I know he is important to folks like yourself, who may wish to help in his time of need.  Bill is truly one of the most amazing, caring and hilarious human beings I know and if you’re reading this you most likely feel the same.  I think we’d all love for Bill to have the peace of mind of knowing that, whatever happens, he need not be stressed out and worried each day about how he’s going to pay for medication or a test or procedure he needs on top of his modest monthly and day to day expenses.

(9) BISCHOFF OBIT. Writer David Bischoff, 66, of Eugene, OR died March 19. He was a contributor to Doug Fratz’ 1970s fanzine Thrust. His first professional successes included The Seeker, a novel published in 1976, and the Nebula-nominated story “Tin Woodman,” co-authored with Dnnis Bailey, later adapted into both a novel and TV episode for Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also wrote the Star Trek tie-in novel Grounded, which spent time on the bestseller list. His other TV work included Dinosaucers (with Ted Pedersen). Bischoff wrote 75 original novels, and tie-in novels for movies and TV series.

David Bischoff. Photo by and copyright Andrew Porter.

(10) A POLICEMAN’S LOT. Camestros Felapton reacted to Richard Paolinelli’s minor league prank of complaining to the Aussie cops about Felapton’s blog.

(11) MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCE. “The hidden history of the UK’s highest peak”: A tourist hiking trail once led to an early weather station whose records are now being used to trace climate change.

Back in Victorian Britain, science was still largely an amateur pastime conducted by bands of self-financed enthusiasts who formed scientific societies. One was the Scottish Meteorological Society, which set up and maintained a network of weather stations across Scotland between 1855 and 1920.

(12) WAVE GOODBYE. “Stephen Hawking’s final interview: A beautiful Universe” starts from LIGO discovery of grav waves.

Tell us how important is the detection of two colliding neutron stars?

It is a genuine milestone. It is the first ever detection of a gravitational wave source with an electromagnetic counterpart. It confirms that short gamma-ray bursts occur with neutron star mergers. It gives a new way of determining distances in cosmology. And it teaches us about the behaviour of matter with incredibly high density.

(13) MAY THE ODDS BE ALWAYS IN YOUR FAVOR. Don’t look up — “Tiangong-1: China space station may fall to Earth ‘in days'”.

Should I be worried?

No. Most of the 8.5-tonne station will disintegrate as it passes through the atmosphere.

Some very dense parts such as the fuel tanks or rocket engines might not burn up completely. However, even if parts do survive to the Earth’s surface, the chances of them hitting a person are incredibly slim.

“Our experience is that for such large objects typically between 20% and 40% of the original mass will survive re-entry and then could be found on the ground, theoretically,” the head of Esa’s space debris office, Holger Krag, told reporters at a recent briefing.

“However, to be injured by one of these fragments is extremely unlikely. My estimate is that the probability of being injured by one of these fragments is similar to the probability of being hit by lightning twice in the same year.”

(14) WEDDING BELLS. Page Six headline: “‘Star Trek’ star marries Leonard Nimoy’s son”:

Live long and prosper, you two.

Adam Nimoy, son of the late “Star Trek” icon Leonard Nimoy, and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” actress Terry Farrell married on Monday, on what would’ve been Leonard Nimoy’s 87th birthday.

The couple tied the knot in a civil ceremony at City Hall in San Francisco, according to film critic Scott Mantz, who tweeted a photo of the couple on their wedding day. Farrell retweeted Mantz’s photo and wrote, “Freakin AWESOME day!!!!!!! Love ya all! Aka: Mrs. Adam Nimoy.”

She also changed her Twitter bio to include “Mrs. Adam Nimoy.”

(15) COMPLAINTS ABOUT DATE OF HUGO ANNOUNCEMENT. The announcement of the 2018 Hugo finalists wouldn’t be on March 31/Passover/Easter weekend/a Saturday if it was up to these folks:

(16) VERTLIEB CANVASSES. Rondo Awards voting closes April 8 at midnight and Steve Vertlieb hopes people will consider his nominated article “Robert Bloch: The Clown at Midnight” for Best Article of the Year.

My published work about the author of “Psycho” … “Robert Bloch: The Clown At Midnight” … has been nominated for a Rondo Award for “Best Article of the Year.” Anyone can vote.  This year’s competition ends Sunday night, April 8th, at midnight. To vote for my remembrance of Robert, simply send your choice, along with your name, to [email protected]

This is the story of my twenty five year friendship with acclaimed writer Robert Bloch, the author of Psycho. It is the newly published remembrance of a complex, remarkable man, and our affectionate relationship over a quarter century.

Robert Bloch was one of the founding fathers of classic horror, fantasy, and science fiction whose prolific prose thrilled and influenced the popular genre, its writers, and readers, for much of the twentieth century. An early member of “The Lovecraft Circle,” a group of both aspiring and established writers of “Weird Fiction” assembled by Howard Phillips Lovecraft during the early 1930’s, Bloch became one of the most celebrated authors of that popular literary genre during the 1940’s, 1950’s, and 1960’s, culminating in the publication of his controversial novel concerning a boy, his mother, and a particularly seedy motel. When Alfred Hitchcock purchased his novel and released “Psycho” with Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh in 1960, Bloch became one of the most sought after authors and screen writers in Hollywood. His numerous contributions to the acclaimed television anthology series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” are among the best of the director’s classic suspense series, while his legendary scripts, adaptations and teleplays for Boris Karloff’s “Thriller” series for NBC are among the most bone chilling, frightening, and horrifying screen presentations in television history. He also famously penned several classic episodes of NBC’s original “Star Trek” series for producer Gene Roddenberry. Writers Stephen King, Richard Matheson, and Harlan Ellison have written lovingly and profusely of their own literary debt to Robert Bloch. Bob was, for me, even more significantly, a profoundly singular mentor and cherished personal friend for a quarter century. This is the story of that unforgettable relationship.

(17) NUMBER PLEASE. A strange post at George R.R. Martin’s Not a Blog caught Greg Hullender’s eye: “I wonder if this is a coded announcement that Winds of Winter is coming?” “Yowza” consists of a series of pictures of hands with finger extended as though counting. But does the number 4534 really mean anything?

[Thanks to Andrew Porter, Joey Eschrich, Cat Eldridge, John King Tarpinian, Ghostbird, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, Carl Slaughter, Chip Hitchcock, Mike Kennedy, Greg Hullender, Paul DiFilippo, and Mark Hepworth for some of these stories, Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kurt Busiek.]

189 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 3/27/18 Godstalk It, Jake, It’s Pixel Scroll

  1. @Charon D–

    It’s probably just me, but I have major issues with a work suddenly becoming (evil? conservative? fascist? unprogressive? not-our-kind-dear?) due solely to contextual reasons. It feels like people are grasping for reasons to condemn something because it appeals to what they feel is the wrong crowd and not for its own merits (or lack thereof).

    I think the notion that people should, or even can, read anything with any real content at all without responding to the context they’re reading it within. And we’ve been commenting on it for a long time. Look at the different ways we respond to Heinlein’s work. There’s the way it read to us as kids in the 50s and 60s, the way it reads to the same people now–and the way Kids Today (anyone below 40 at the oldest) wonder why we care about that old crap.

    Ready Player 1, for many people, reads very differently after Gamergate than before. It’s for the same reason calling a white man a gorilla doesn’t have the same emotional impact as calling a black man a gorilla.

    Yet for all that I see lots of problems in Heinlein now, it doesn’t stop me from still enjoying quite a few of his books. There’s no reason you shouldn’t still enjoy Ready Player 1.

    It’s just neither reasonable nor fair to suggest that people who have problems,with it in the aftermath of Gamergate that they are “grasping” for reasons to do so in bad faith out of hostility to a group you identify with.

  2. @Rob:

    Yep. All the long holiday weekends in the UK suitable for putting on our national convention are religious holidays – it used to be held at Whitsun before moving to Easter. This being so, are those Christians complaining about this suggesting everyone should instead choose a non-holiday weekend that would mean they’d have to take annual leave days off work to attend? That’s the only real alternative, and would be a very hard sell.

    First of all, for my part, I’d rather cons be at Whitsun (Pentecost) than Easter.

    But although many European countries have Easter Monday off, it isn’t a federal holiday in the US. And even the Dutch convention I’m going to doesn’t extend onto the holiday Monday. So it’s not always purely “a three day con on a three-day weekend” that drives the scheduling.

    But even leaving con scheduling aside, the timing of the announcement doesn’t have the kind of counterbalancing benefit to the non-observant part of fandom that scheduling a con on a religious 3-day weekend does.

  3. JJ on March 27, 2018 at 9:23 pm said:
    Douglas Berry: But seriously, it’s not like the list of finalists won’t be posted everywhere inside an hour of the announcement. It’s not like knowing in the first five minutes is any different from learning the next day.

    It’s not just Easter weekend, it’s Passover. Orthodox Jews will be going to services and are not permitted access to electronic devices during the weekend. I’m an atheist, and I can still sympathize with them at not being able to find out for 2 days.

    I am all for inclusivity but the world doesn’t and shouldn’t stop for the convenience of people of faith. If your observance demands the sacrifice that you do no work for two days, then do no work for two days. Lots of people can’t attend WorldCon most years because it’s in the States and some of us are scared to visit, or can’t afford to. Them’s the fucking breaks.

  4. After musing about this all day, I guess my fundamental question is:

    Is announcing the Hugo shortlist on Pesach any better, or any worse, than announcing the final winner on Shabbes? Why, or why not?

  5. Kendall on March 27, 2018 at 11:33 pm said:
    @Marshall Ryan Maresca: I LOL’d a bit at the description as basically reading a press release, though probably there’s a bit more pomp and circumstance (?!). So thanks for that. ?

    99% of fans, finalists, and hopefuls aren’t actually there, and not everyone at these cons (which have nothing to do with the Hugos anyway) even goes to the announcement, and people online can squee together on most weekends or weekdays, so this particular weekend (even without Passover) always seems odd to me. IMHO a weekday (as some suggest) would be better anyway.

    No it bloody wouldn’t. I work on week days, and that cuts me, and everybody else who need to work for a living, out of the conversation.

  6. Lis Carey on March 28, 2018 at 7:04 am said:
    @John Mark Ockerbloom–

    The message I’ve always gotten from those cons is “we don’t really care about you folks”. Which is their right, but doesn’t make me feel particularly welcome as a Christian SF fan.

    Yes indeed. There’s always, in my lifetime in fandom, been some sense that being openly antisemitic was icky, even if there might be a lack of real respect for Jewish religious beliefs. But Christianity? There’s an assumption, not uncommonly openly stated, that conventions on Easter weekend don’t inconvenience anyone who matters.

    That real fans are atheists.

    And it’s an unexamined, barely conscious assumption, so it’s hard to call people on it without confusing rather than enlightening them.

    Imagine how much it would suck if the rest of the world treated your religious convictions as icky and immoral ALL THE TIME. Welcome to the atheists’ world.

  7. Uh, Anna, you do not want to go there. You really don’t want to start in to the question of whether atheists or religious people are more often dicks to one another. It’s not a game anybody wins.

  8. @Charon D.

    Yeah … I noted your objections to problematic underlying ideas and brushes with same, and I’ve also heard that RP1 is reactionary and almost-fascist (from a discussion I had here last weekend). It’s probably just me, but I have major issues with a work suddenly becoming (evil? conservative? fascist? unprogressive? not-our-kind-dear?) due solely to contextual reasons.

    Context is important for art though. What was wholly socially acceptable racism in pulp fiction in the 20s is now wholly socially unacceptable racism now because the context against which it is read is different. Cline’s approach to his writing of women and their interactions with male characters was easily dismissed as just ‘nerd bro’ attitude until people realized what those attitudes were capable of when that community was weaponized to sending death threats to women and chasing them from their homes. Art doesn’t get to live solely in the time and place it was created without criticism.

    It feels like people are grasping for reasons to condemn something because it appeals to what they feel is the wrong crowd and not for its own merits (or lack thereof).

    I find it a little surprising that identifying the problematic elements of RP1 that exist (even when it first came out in 2011) are grasping. I mean, they’re writ loud across the work and were clear in critical reviews at the time. The last few years may have amplified them but they didn’t create them whole cloth.

    I’m presumably in the wrong crowd (as a videogame-loving ‘80s kid surrounded by people who are positive about RP1), even though my bubble includes a lot of female gamers who struggle with rage from creepy male gamers as well as gamer-haters – more nebulous contextual sort of sin.

    I’m a videogame-loving ’80s kid who is surrounded by people who are not positive about RP1. And most are female gamers. We may have differences of opinion about the book, but it seems you’re hinting that the criticism comes from people who lack some perspective or understanding regarding it that you and your group have. Or that they are disingenuously interpreting the text to create problematic issues that are largely ridiculous because it is motivated by political considerations or a groupthink to be offended because it doesn’t tick off a specific box.

  9. Chip Hitchcock, re: your comment to Sylvia Sotomayor about whether or not August 20 is a very early class start date or not: Nah, that’s not all that early. Most fall semesters in Illinois start the week before Labor Day (August 27 this year), with freshmen orientation and on-site registration the week before, but some of the institutions–including some state universities–start classes on the 20th. In many ways, it depends on when in the week Christmas falls, since most schools want to give students a solid block of time for winter break and that can get tricky if the holiday is on a Wednesday, say. And in general, the first week of classes is–just a really difficult week to take any time off, if you are living on an academic calendar.

  10. Lenora Rose on March 28, 2018 at 11:48 am said:
    Uh, Anna, you do not want to go there. You really don’t want to start in to the question of whether atheists or religious people are more often dicks to one another. It’s not a game anybody wins.

    MY POINT EXACTLY

  11. If that’s your point why post a response that looks designed to fan, not reduce, the likely flames?

  12. The Hugos are presented during WorldCon and announced during the Easter Cons because they are fandom business first of all. I remember distinctly that the big Sad Puppies slate was announced over Eastercon, which meant that UK fandom could discuss its implications immediately. I’m fine with them being announced during the UK national convention, which as several people have pointed out can only happen over Easter both because it allows people to go without having to ask for annual leave, and because function space is only available for the money a UK con can pay over Easter.

    They are fandom’s award, awards that fandom gives out. If the recipients are whinging and whining because they can’t monetise immediately the recognition that fandom bestows on them, I have very, very little sympathy.

  13. Lenora Rose on March 28, 2018 at 12:26 pm said:
    If that’s your point why post a response that looks designed to fan, not reduce, the likely flames?

    Because I am annoyed and offended? Because I am being instructed in a very haughty manner about religious tolerance, me, a Catholic atheist living in Britain?

  14. If the recipients are whinging and whining because they can’t monetise immediately the recognition that fandom bestows on them, I have very, very little sympathy.

    Some of the names above might be potential finalists, mostly in fan writer, but I don’t think the majority are. I would describe those complaining as fellow fans, and their motivations as not financial ones.

  15. @Anna Feruglio Dal Dan:

    If I’ve come across as haughty, I apologize. I was simply putting things from my perspective, as a member of the fannish community who sometimes feels slighted or excluded.

    I do think the people in question are feeling left out of the chance to squee with their community of fandom, not to make money. Can you point me to a comment that indicates otherwise?

  16. Here’s a completely different question, with regards to promotion/press/publicity for the nominations. Which news outlets are the ones that will cover the nomination announcement, but only if it’s during the week? I mean, there’s plenty of places that will cover it regardless, and plenty that won’t care regardless. Who are these supposed outlets that only will cover it if it drops in a convenient time in the news cycle?

    (Hell, in this day and age, is there a convenient time in the news cycle? Or is it all a garbage fire?)

  17. Anna: In one way you are possibly right, in that I should have also sent a nudge in the direction of the person who posted the thing you were responding to as well, for pushing a very unpleasant button.

    Nobody is lecturing you on religious tolerance, and I deeply apologize for coming across as haughty where what I genuinely want is to avoid this thread devolving into a question of who is more oppressed where.

  18. Yes, the anti-Christian bias in fandom actually isn’t a huge deal. It’s even a useful reminder, in some respects, thast this is what non-Christians experience way, way more often.

    That doesn’t mean we never, ever get to comment on it, or that atheists are not, in fact, being dicks when they casually and publicly refer to the beliefs of other fans whom they know to be fans, sf readers, pro-science, and even scientists, as fairy tales that only flat earthers and young earth creationists, who completely reject science, could possibly believe.

    It gets tiresome, especially in what is otherwise a relatively safe space, where we don’t have to worry about the flat earthers and the young earth creationists…

    An annoyance. That is all. And sometimes the annoyance will get voiced, when the subject is the Easter conventions.

    Worth noting: It’s quite rare in the US for Easter Monday to be a legal holiday. So it’s not obvious to American fans, without the fact being mentioned, that the “three day weekend” factor that applies to our Labor Day and some other holidays, and your bank holidays, is in play for vaguely springish conventions in Europe. It’s a good thing to be reminded of–but also for European fans, when it is relevant, to remember it doesn’t apply in the US, and we might need the reminder.

    We could all do with a bit more of not assuming our ways are universal and obviously correct.

  19. The issue/problem is less “nobody will cover this if it’s announced on a Sunday morning” than “far fewer people will bother reading/listening to the story if it’s announced between late Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.”

    When a politician or company releases a story late on Friday afternoon, that doesn’t keep it off the news broadcasts, websites, etc. It does mean that fewer people will pay attention to it, because fewer people are looking at those pages, and listening to those broadcasts, Saturday morning than Wednesday morning.

  20. To me, having things happen on the high religious days of the religion whose holy days are most often accommodated as national holidays in Western calendars is the logical — and not unreasonable — price to pay for having your holidays always accommodated by a secular break from work in the first place. To me, it seems that failing to accommodate a religious calendar from a group with stricter limitations and who is definitely not pre-accommodated so much in the mainstream is a more problematic issue, but still not a *huge* deal — but not being from that group, I am also willing to say that my idea of what is and isn’t a huge deal should be taken with an appropriate measure of salt.

    (context: I am from a Roman Catholic family who last took it universally seriously two generations ago, am a modestly active member of a Protestant (United) church despite mild agnosticism, and my blood sibling is a flat atheist.)

  21. Pablo Defendini has just pointed out on Twitter that Sunday is also April Fool’s Day, which could lead to some…static interference with the genuine announcement.

  22. @Lis

    As I said earlier in the thread Easter weekend is actually a “four day weekend” for us in the UK. Both Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays.

    As for “fairy tales” I don’t think anyone here has used that phrase at all. So I am not sure why you bring it up.

  23. Vicki: I can see that.

    But, as a counterpoint– and this is personal and anecdotal, so grain of salt– but SFF type stories that drop on the weekend, I tend to see more of because there is a lot less news during that time. For example: if something is posted on io9 on Saturday morning, it tends to still be on the front page Sunday night, because the lower volume of stories means it doesn’t get pushed off. But a story posted Monday morning tends to be pushed off by Monday afternoon.

  24. andyl: As for “fairy tales” I don’t think anyone here has used that phrase at all.

    That kind of thing has been said here in the past. Various Filers made clear they wouldn’t accept it, which helped curb it in this community. However, it’s not hard to find examples of that in fandom at large.

  25. @Robert Whitaker Sirigiano — not sure this is what you meant, but the article about READY PLAYER ONE is at the Vox website, not written by Vox Day. So: no relation.

    It’s actually full of very good points about RPO; the book has got overtones of “well if you can’t name all the writers of all the issues of this comic, then you are not a REAL FAN” type of gatekeeping that’s been seen at cons. The book makes a hero out of one of those guys, some of the least admirable denizens of fandom. I couldn’t read more than 20 pages of the book and have no intention of spending money on the film.

  26. READY PLAYER ONE is entirely Real Fan Gatekeeping, with Cline-through-Halliday defining what “real fan” is, and the plot essentially a series of Fake Geek Girl tests to see who is worthy to enter all the gates.

    I MEAN, LITERALLY. The Egg Hunt consists of Gates that you have to prove you’re the right kind of geek to A. find and b. get through.

  27. @Chip Hitchcock on March 28, 2018 at 8:26 am:

    As Mary Francis said earlier, it’s not that early. It’s also not a statewide thing either. And even though I am support staff and not faculty, taking the days around that weekend off is difficult. I think Dublin will be on that equivalent weekend, too, so I am resigned to not going. Finland was good, it was the weekend before so I could go and then fly home the last day.

    And no the hugos are not the only thing at the con, but they are for me one of the important things, and if I can only go to two days of the con for work reasons then I want those two days to include the hugos. I managed it with Spokane. Flew in Fri evening and out again on Sunday and the hugos were on Saturday night. Perfect!

  28. I don’t understand why the nominations won’t get any coverage if released on a Saturday, but the awards themselves are only legitimate of done on a Saturday.

  29. I am happy with Friday. Although your general point seems to prioritise US media over that from other countries which seems a bit off to me.

    The timing is going to prioritize media somewhere. The U.S. seems the strongest choice to me, but if somebody made a convincing argument that another country or that year’s Worldcon host nation is the best target I could be persuaded.

  30. @NickPheas
    Congratulations on the new arrival and all the best for little Harriet.

    I fully understand the reasoning behind scheduling cons on long holiday weekends, simply because it makes it easier for many fans to attend without having to take time off work. Besides, in some professions, e.g. with teachers, it could be very difficult to take time off outside the school holidays. Though at least in Europe, the Ascension Day weekend and Whitsun/Pentecost weekend would be a better choice than Easter, because both holidays involve less intense religious observance. It also eliminates the Passover problem.

    Coincidentally, this is also why the traditional Labor Day weekend of WorldCons past and Dragon Con today is inconvenient for fans from outside North America. This Labor Day (as opposed to the traditional one on May 1) is only a public holiday in the US and Canada. And at least in most of Europe, September is outside the range of summer school holidays and might just inch into university holidays, depending on your location.

    So yes, every time is always inconvenient to someone. Nonetheless, it would be best to avoid times that are extremely inconvenient to a large number of people.

  31. Anna Feruglio Dal Dan: They are fandom’s award, awards that fandom gives out. If the recipients are whinging and whining because they can’t monetise immediately the recognition that fandom bestows on them, I have very, very little sympathy.

    Yep, and I can absolutely understand fans wanting to have the announcement be real-time at a con with other fans, where they can share their excitement and reactions. I would love to be at a weekend SFF con for that announcement. But there are a lot of fans who don’t have that option. And I don’t know why the Jewish contingent of those fans would be considered less important than the ones who are actually able to go to the cons.

    I don’t give a shit about “monetization”. What I do give a shit about is, in the Internet age, the exclusionism being practiced by the fans who are fortunate enough (financially and schedule-wise) to be able to go to one of the two big Easter weekend conventions. Social media made it possible for fans all over the world to participate in that announcement as it happens. Continuing to schedule the announcement on Easter Saturday excludes Jewish fans from that participation.

    I also care enough about the Hugo Awards to prioritize what’s best for the Awards over my personal gratification in getting to be present at a con when the Finalists are announced.

    I would like to see the Hugos become even more well-known in the world outside of fandom, and the best way for that to happen is for the announcement to coincide with the global news cycle, rather than be buried on a weekend.

  32. What I do give a shit about is, in the Internet age, the exclusionism being practiced by the fans who are fortunate enough (financially and schedule-wise) to be able to go to one of the two big Easter weekend conventions.

    If it’s exclusionism to favor congoers in the timing of the Hugo finalist announcement, isn’t the same true of the award ceremony? I agree that a weekday would be better to announce the ballot, but I don’t think we should call it exclusionary for an award created by SF/F convention fandom to favor congoers.

  33. rcade: I don’t think we should call it exclusionary for an award created by SF/F convention fandom to favor congoers.

    I would perhaps agree with you more if it favored Worldcongoers. But it doesn’t. I read intensively all year long, expend a great deal of thought on my Hugo nominations and votes, and go to Worldcon. There is no chance in hell I will ever be able to go to a Norwescon or an Eastercon.

    There are a bunch of people who actively participate in the Hugos who cannot go to those cons. And many of the people who do go to those cons don’t buy memberships in Worldcon or nominate/vote on the Hugos.

    But at least now, thanks to social media, all Worldcongoers have the opportunity to participate in the announcements. Unless the announcement is made during a time when a significant number of Worldcongoers cannot participate in social media.

  34. “This is off topic. I might have mentioned something to a couple of you in Helsinki.
    I’m currently sat in hospital where my daughter Harriet Beatrice Eden was born this morning. She’s lovely.”

    IS BESTEST TOPIC EVER! Congratulations!!

  35. But at least now, thanks to social media, all Worldcongoers have the opportunity to participate in the announcements. Unless the announcement is made during a time when a significant number of Worldcongoers cannot participate in social media.

    Yeah, but, for the sake of argument a Tuesday Morning is just as bad for a significant number congoers in terms of “participating on social media”. They have to be at jobs or other obligations where they aren’t going to have freedom to access things online.

    There isn’t a perfect solution. Regardless of when the announcement is made, some people will be able to react immediately, and others won’t be able to for several hours, or even a day or two. And that’s OK.

    Really.

  36. Unless the announcement is made during a time when a significant number of Worldcongoers cannot participate in social media.

    At any given time, that’s about a third of the world. I’ve never considered reacting to an announcement to be “participation” in it. (I also don’t go to cons any more, even local ones, because budget.)

  37. Jealous of those of you who have long weekends coming up! No extra days off here for Easter weekend (at least in my corner of the US.)

  38. I’ve never considered reacting to an announcement to be “participation” in it. (I also don’t go to cons any more, even local ones, because budget.)

    It can be a lot of fun to be part of the moment on Twitter. To console myself about not going to Worldcon, I livetweet the awards ceremony from afar. I end up hearing from 50-100 people as they celebrate and share the news of a category win — sometimes from winners or their family members.

    There’s also this: I added Seanan McGuire to a Twitter list I was maintaining of Hugo-nominated authors upon her first nomination in 2012. She tweeted, “I just got added to someone’s Twitter list of Hugo nominated authors. Now I am crying again.”

  39. I remember back, not all that long ago, when I wouldn’t find out who was nominated for the Hugos until I got the next Locus, with the ballot printed in that, as much as one or two weeks. Now, people having to wait 24 or 36 hours can be seen as unconscionably long.

    A fascinating First World problem to have (and argue about).

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