Pixel Scroll 12/17 We Also Walk T. Rexes

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(1) TALES OF LONG LONG AGO. Ethan Mills knows it’s “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Getting Ready for Star Wars!”

In watching The Empire Strikes Back, I was reminded of this post from several months back: “The Dress: Episode V – Han Solo’s Jacket.”  It turns out the science fiction fans have their own version of that dress that destroyed the internet in February of 2015.  In the Hoth scenes, there is some dispute about whether Han’s jacket is brown or navy blue.  On my TV last night it looked brown to me, but now in this picture it looks navy blue.  Go figure.

(2) THE LIST’S AFOOT. Miriam Burstein has posted a list of the interesting things she read this year, “My Year in Books” at The Little Professor. Sf is among the many genres she covers. Holmes pastiches are another.

Most self-sabotaging novel: Dan Simmons’ Sherlock Holmes pastiche The Fifth Heart, whose characters are awfully insistent that the Holmes stories aren’t very good.

Really, you can stop now: The Sherlock Holmes pastiche industry, which is not improving in quality as it goes along.

…Well, perhaps except for you: Robert Ryan’s Watson series is quite enjoyable.

(3) VINTAGE LINES. “Here’s What the 1977 Star Wars Line Looked Like In Los Angeles” from LAist.

Lines were forming to see Star Wars films right in the very beginning, when the first installment of what would become a massive franchise hit screens in 1977.

They also have a compilation video of news reports about Star Wars lines as the series progressed.

(4) SLOW-PACED COURTSHIP. And how long did people wait in line for the opening of The Force Awakens in Hollywood? Here’s a clue: local fan Obishawn (Shawn Crosby) officiated at a Star Wars wedding today by the entrance of the Chinese theater in Hollywood…

(5) PUNCHBOWL FLOATER. Guess who will cheer Stephen L. Miller’s “Star Wars: Revenge of the Social Justice Warriors” at National Review Online? It’s about PC types who are prepared to bash the new Star Wars film and finding little to bash.

With the long-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening tomorrow, news outlets and social media have been abuzz with the expectations of a new generation of fans. But with The Force Awakens as the first of the films to be released in the age of social justice, the question must be asked: At a time when the slightest violation of PC orthodoxy can set off a deluge of listicles, cable-news segments, and general media outrage, can Star Wars survive such an onslaught launched from the Social Justice Media’s veritable Sarlacc Pit — more commonly referred to as Twitter?

(6) CONCESSIONS LAST STAND. Washington Post writer Drew Harwell, in “The business of ‘Star Wars’ comes with a huge catch”, tells how movie theaters are responding to Disney’s giant slice of the revenue pie by offering Star Wars-related swag and snacks (Marcus Theaters in the Midwest offers the “Wookiee Smash Burger” for only $12.59).

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” may become the highest-grossing premiere in history, but it comes with a huge catch. Disney is demanding movie theaters hand over a much bigger cut of box-office revenue than usual, carving into cineplexes’ profits at a time when they need all the help they can get.

So theaters have gotten creative about the moneymakers they control. One small theater chain, Studio Movie Grill, is offering a daily “Star Wars”-themed brunch, including cinnamon-and-sugar Princess Leia Buns, a Tuscan Raider Quesadilla and cocktails such as a $9 tequila Yoda-Rita, with lime wedges hooked on the rim to mimic the Jedi master’s ears.

(7) ESCAPED PATIENT. The Onion found (invented?) the one fan who brings a fair and balanced approach to the movie — “Fan Just Going To Keep Open Mind About Whether New ‘Star Wars’ Best Or Worst Movie Ever”.

(8) ODYSSEY WORKSHOP. “Odyssey Writers Workshop Application Period Opens” – see details at the SFWA Blog or the Odyssey website.

Odyssey is for writers whose work is approaching publication quality and for published writers who want to improve their work.  The six-week program combines an advanced curriculum with extensive writing and in-depth feedback on student manuscripts.  The director and primary instructor, Jeanne Cavelos, was nominated for the World Fantasy Award this year for her work teaching and running Odyssey.  Top authors, editors, and agents have served as guest lecturers, including George R. R. Martin, Jane Yolen, Robert J. Sawyer, Nancy Kress, Ben Bova, Holly Black, Catherynne M. Valente, and Dan Simmons.

This summer’s workshop runs from JUNE 6 to JULY 15, 2016.  Class meets for over four hours each morning, five days a week.  That time is split between workshopping and lectures.  While feedback reveals the weaknesses in students’ manuscripts, lectures teach the techniques necessary to strengthen them.  In-depth lectures provide advanced insights into the elements of fiction writing.  Students spend about eight hours more per day writing and critiquing each other’s work.

The program is held on the beautiful campus of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH….

The workshop’s Writer-in-Residence will be Mary Robinette Kowal. Lecturers include Meagan Spooner, Patricia Bray, N. K. Jemisin, Deborah DeNicola, and Scott H. Andrews.

(9) DANIEL CHAPTER THREE. The third installment of Daniel’s Castalia House blog series “Safe Space as Rape Room: Science Fiction Culture and Childhood’s End” is a series of nonsequitur sophistries constructed for the purpose of smearing John Scalzi.

(10) ENTIRELY COINCIDENTAL. Today John Scalzi was not only using his Twitter trolls for cannon fodder but for artistic inspiration. At least I think that’s art….

(11) THE SATANIC VERSUS. “’Star Wars’-themed church service to highlight ‘parallels’” at MSNBC.

Members of the congregation at Berlin’s Zions Church will be greeted with the theme music from the blockbuster series and can expect to hear about “the juxtaposition of good and bad, light and dark” during the one-hour event, church minister Eva-Maria Menard told NBC News.

Short excerpts from trailers and the George Lucas movies will be shown on a screen below the pulpit.

Vicar Ulrike Garve said that the service will expose “the theological motives and parallels in the Star Wars episodes.”

Garve and colleague Lucas Ludewig plan to highlight Romans 12:21 from the Bible, which states: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

(12) DICKINSON OBIT. The SF Site News obituary for British author Peter Dickinson (1927-2015) who died December 16 notes that his novel The Ropemaker won the Mythopoeic Award for Children’s Literature in 2002, and he was twice nominated for the World Fantasy Award. Dickinson was married to author Robin McKinley. More at the post.

(13) CHECKING IN. In the first 10 days, the “We Are ALL SF Con 2016 Startup” Indiegogo appeal has raised $230 to help launch a fan convention inspired by the motto coined by Lou J. Berger and Quincy J. Allen. They need $9,000.

The operational leadership is Spence Smith, convention chair, and Suzy Thommarson, assistant convention chair. Advisors are Pat and Doug Booze of Norwescon, Shawn Marier of Norwescon and Anglicon, and Chris Nilsson, of Anglicon and Rustycon. “Plus we occasionally pick the brains of some of the old time Worldcon con runners,” adds Karen Junker.

They plan to hold the event November 4-6 in Ocean Shores, WA.

(14) JOVIAN AWARDS. SF Site News lists several pros who announced on Facebook that they received Jovian Awards — each of whom posted a photo of the award and wrote that they didn’t know who it came from.

Jovian Award

Neither The Jovian Award website nor The Jovian Award Facebook page sheds any light on the presenters. What the winners who revealed themselves have in common is that they were Hugo nominees who finished second to No Award.

Hell of a nice looking award, though.

(15) LUKE I AM YOUR FENDER. Jay Leno’s Garage had a visit from Hot Wheels’ real-life Darth Vader car, “which is what you get when you morph Vader’s helmet and other components into a car.”

(16) POSTERS. New Batman v. Superman posters.

(17) ANNOYING COMMERCIAL. James H. Burns asks —

Am I the only one who hates the Geico Peter Pan ad?  I generally really like the company’s spots, and I realize that in some interpretations, Peter can be a real wiseguy…  I wondered why this bugged me so much, and I think it’s two reasons:  One, I just don’t like seeing Pan being such a twerp…  But more importantly, the second worse thing about being Peter would have to be watching your mortal friends pass on…  (There is, however, a pretty neat Tink here!)

 

[Thanks to Steven H Silver, John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, and Alan Baumler for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

Update 12/19/2015: Corrected name of city to Ocean Shore, after having the typo carefully explained to me (the subtler attempts having gone over my head.)

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306 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 12/17 We Also Walk T. Rexes”

  1. I see the anonymous Jovian Award as just another attempt by puppy sympathisers to strike at the legitimacy of the Hugo process. They are saying that Hugo voters are wrong in their personal judgements of award contenders. Without any verbiage about why they think the individual award recipients are worthy this is just a very pretty slap in the face of Hugo voters.

    If the Jovian is still being handed out to nominees who finish below No Award 5+ years from now I may reconsider my position but unless some sort of loud, devicive brouhaha is still raging, I can’t see a recipient being happy to get one.

  2. Aaron on December 18, 2015 at 10:30 am said:
    Pretending that the Jovians are the work of the collection of ordinary fans drawn from across the spectrum is just part of that Puppy narrative. It would be nice if the Jovian awards really were just a nice gesture intended to reward work the people handing them out loved, but the rhetoric that accompanies them tells me that they aren’t. Instead, they look like they are just a PR stunt cooked up by some Puppy supporters.

    I agree about the rhetoric but in the end this is some people saying that certain people deserved an award and then spending their own time and money to give one out. The Puppy MO was to try and hijack the good will and volunteer work of others and indulge in self-aggrandizement. So if this is some others only lightly affiliated with the pups or a change of tactics by core pups, the net result is a more benign response.

  3. Something wrong here; I’m seeing no comments, which is impossible this late in the day. Even in 7851, we can’t get good tech support!

    Oh, good, comments seem to be back.

  4. The Jovian, oddly, does not resemble Jupiter. Maybe Neptune? A little? Or, actually, it looks like a gazing ball. I don’t know if these gazing ball things that people put on pedestals outside their houses are now popular or were ever popular, such that others will know what I mean when I reference them. I had a neighbor who put them all over his front yard (like maybe 20 of them) and they looked just like that. I don’t think they are incredibly expensive. Maybe $30?

    I have no problem with anybody anywhere giving out whatever awards they want. Hip hip hurrah and all that. Still, tying them to people who came in second in the Hugos, rather than to the authors or books or editors whose work one especially enjoyed, seems a bit odd. I agree with Camestros — let the Jovians of good will and good cheer continue to give out their gazing balls next year and the next year after that, to whatever authors and editors they (he? she?) genuinely appreciate(s). And by “genuinely appreciates,” my suggestion would be with no regard to where people did or did not place on a Hugo ballot. Until then, I will sing “Let the mystery be” along with Iris DeMent and not speculate on who or what is giving them out. If this person or persons wants to be a mystery, so be it.

  5. If the SP4 definitely-not-a-slate could only be used as a shortlist for voting directly on the Jovian Awards, rather than going through the rather bizarre route of gatecrashing the Hugos and getting categories No Awarded, I think a lot of people would be much happier. Unfortunately, that’s the most difficult part – but we can always hope that someone unhappy with the Hugos will come forward. You never know, maybe a few years down the line we’ll be celebrating the first work to win both Hugo and Jovian.

    This comes to you from 9294, and a time zone which appears to be 5 hours and 24 minutes ahead of File770 time. Is this a new development of the time machine?

  6. (2) THE LIST’S AFOOT

    I rather liked this observation:

    I don’t suppose there’s some sort of incantation from the Harry Potter series that would make people cease writing about this character: Jack the Ripper. We have run out of things to say about Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper does not lead to any new insights about horrible conditions in late-Victorian Britain. Put a halt to writing sadistic novels about Jack the Ripper. STOP IT RIGHT THIS INSTANT. DO NOT MAKE ME COME OVER THERE WITH MY BLUE PENCIL OF DOOM.

  7. The Jovian looks pretty. And also heavy.

    I doubt it is anything to do with the main puppies, as it’s far too tasteful to have anything to do with VD, and LC, BT, crazy uncle Lou et al would be shouting from the rooftops if they did it.

    I do agree with Peter J above:
    If the SP4 definitely-not-a-slate could only be used as a shortlist for voting directly on the Jovian Awards, rather than going through the rather bizarre route of gatecrashing the Hugos and getting categories No Awarded, I think a lot of people would be much happier.

    I for one would be happy not to read this years avalanche of puppy crap, like last year and the year before.

  8. BTW, if the comments go away you can go back to the main page and return to the comments via one of the “Recent Comments” links (at the right on most browsers, at the bottom on many mobile devices).

    At least, it appeared to work for me when it happened a moment ago.

  10. The Jovians appear to be quite nice “consolation” prizes delivered in a low key, nonconfrontational way.

  12. TheWolfAmongThem:

    I don’t even think the issue is that conservatives aren’t a marginalized group. They think they are, and you and I don’t agree, but it doesn’t matter in this case. What matters is that the Puppies cheated — or, if you prefer, abused a weakness in the nominating system. They got their works on the ballot not by the consensus of the voting populace, but solely by virtue of the fact that they were willing to band together whereas the rest of the fans were voting their own opinions.

    If they had just raised awareness of the award among conservative fans, and awareness of the works they liked among the voters, that would have been perfectly fine, marginalized group or no.

    To use your example, if a group of female/feminist fans had gotten together to push a slate of works in such a way that their voting power was vastly magnified and men were kept off the ballot altogether in many categories, EPH and the like would be a perfectly appropriate response.

  13. A) Yay more awards! Good on them for doing something positive, though hopefully it will spin-off and be it’s own thing, independent of the Hugos.

    B) @TheWolfAmongThem

    But I think it should be stressed that the opposition to the Puppies invasion of Worldcon is that ‘conservatives are not necessarily entitled to be represented at Worldcon’ rather than that ‘nobody is entitled to be represented at Worldcon; they can be biased against anyone and it wouldn’t matter because they’re Worldcon’s awards to do with as they please.’

    I agree that in a sense the Puppies represent conservative Affirmative Action. However, what you seem to have ignored is that the Puppies didn’t simply add one or two of their authors to each category (which may have been annoying, but whatever) but flooded every category. And their selections were uniformly awful.

    That is not Affirmative Action. People were given a Hobson’s choice.

  14. My general thoughts on the Jovian —

    Man, that’s a pretty award. Are those sharks in there? Whales? A weird construct of the light?

    I think the Jovioids are every bit as welcome as GRRM to give out awards to whoever they like, and I join the vast majority of File 770 in our collective sorrow for John C. Wright, always an extra bridesmaid, never the tire-iron-wielding bride.

    I suspect, however, that to the recipients the Alfies will connote “We got caught in a kerfuffle and are appreciated anyway,” and the Jovians will connote a bigger, prettier asterisk.

    Hampus (autocorrect wants to call you “Famous,” so congratulations on your achievements!):

    And while they have some politics on their why-page, I do appreciate the callout to GRRM. That they actually thought he did something nice.

    You think that was their honest opinion, and not a cover argument, like “you lot bloc-nominate womens you don’t really like so we’re only doing the same thing but better because it’s going to the right people this time”?

    Maybe. Given the underlying tone of the rest of the piece, I am not so sure.

    TheWolf:

    So the Puppies said, “The Hugos are biased in favor of liberals, let’s change that by nominating more works by conservatives and/or encouraging more conservatives to vote.”

    No, had they said that, people might have argued with them about whether the Hugos are biased or not, and why, and then argued with each other, and there would have been charts and all. But no one would have opposed a call to nominate more works by conservatives or an encouragement for conservatives to join in.

    What the Puppies said was “So the Puppies said, “The Hugos are biased in favor of liberals, let’s change that by nominating THESE SPECIFIC works by OUR PALS and/or encouraging PEOPLE WHO MAY NOT HAVE READ THE WORK BUT DON’T LIKE LIBERALS to vote AS WE DIRECT.”

    They weren’t attempting “join in.” “Join in” is easy and doesn’t require slates. They were attempting “take over.”

    That’s why the cheers happened, because the takeover failed. The Puppies (and allies) have been trying to spin that as refusing Puppy input rather than refusing Puppy control, but it just ain’t so.

    Aaron:

    Do all non-winners hemorrhage after they don’t get the trophy? Or is it just Puppy nominated non-winners?

    Depends on the thickness of the nominees skin, clearly.

    Tintinaus:

    Without any verbiage about why they think the individual award recipients are worthy this is just a very pretty slap in the face of Hugo voters.

    Their winners are worthy because they “should have” won Hugos. Unlike John C. Wright, who goes home empty-handed even from the Revenge Awards.

    ***

    But hey. If the Mystery Men from Jupiter want to give out Jovian Awards, more power to them, and may they make it a regular thing that stands on its own, rather than a consolation prize for Losing the Hugo When the Puppies Supported You.

    And at least Brian Z got to have his usual definition-switching argument yet another time.

  15. For those interested, Amazon has the Kindle version of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean At The End Of The Lane on sale for $1.99 today.

  16. Ancillary thought:

    If the Jovian Awards are to be the consolation prize for runner-up Puppy nominees, perhaps it should have been named the Canis Minor Award.

  17. Okay, this might seem out of character, considering that I’ve had some real vitriol for the Puppys, but I think the Jovian awards are a good sign. Here’s why.

    1) Look at who they are: I had some real temptation to vote for Hot Equations. Totaled was certainly the best of that bunch. Flow lacked most of the detritus of the rest. While I may not be Certified Manly Enough to even gaze upon the pectoral muscles of a Baen book cover, Weisskopf keeps the Chapter Fives to a traditional number as an editor. I’m not familiar with Mike Resnick, but I assume he was one of the human shield I heard about most after the awards for positive reasons. I didn’t have to bourbon my way through the Jovian winners as much as the others.

    2) Look at who they aren’t: Nothing by the certified great and too chickensh*t to say he’s a fascist John C. Wright. Nothing by Michael Z. Williamson. Nothing by perfectly willing to be an out and out fascist Teddy Beale.

    3) Look at the Un-People! Remember, Kary English did get unreasoned by Beale for being far too mouthy and uppity for her station. Or something.

    4) You wouldn’t give your IP to Vox Either: Considering just how angry Beale and Wright get at being crossed, I might be anonymous too. Whoever made the Jovians feted someone who was un personnel by the puppy who counted, and was willing to give the award to the supporting cast, and snub JCW. If the puppies were my circle, I’d keep my head down too.

    So yeah – the Jovians are a sign of the people who marched in ranks having divisions. More power to them.

  18. I didn’t object to GRRM rebooting his Hugo losers celebration, and I don’t object to people handing out really nice pieces of glass to the Hugo losers either; why should I?

    I don’t expect everybody to share my tastes in reading, just as I don’t expect everybody to share my tastes in clothing; indeed, one can be pleasantly surprised. I am now the proud owner of the first Versace handbag in history not to be completely OTT; the fact that it was very greatly reduced suggests that it didn’t appeal to Versace’s customer base, but I like to feel that I am encouraging Versace to do better.

    Admittedly, now that I am here in 5010 it looks as if my master plan didn’t work too well when it comes to handbags, but Jove seems to be doing pretty well as gas giants go…

  19. I’m damned if I’m going to click through and read the whole Stephen L. Miller article, but the premise is hilarious. I’ve been laughing at it for 2,513 years now.

  20. So yeah – the Jovians are a sign of the people who marched in ranks having divisions. More power to them.

    Aren’t they just the second-place winners? If so, the Mystery Men from Jupiter didn’t choose the specific winners, the Hugo voters did.

    The MMJ chose to award those who came in second to No Award, though.

  21. (11) Zionskirch has a long history of rebellion against empires. I’ve totally forgotten about Bonhoeffer.

    The Zionskirche (Zion Church) has played an important role in Berlin’s history. This is where Dietrich Bonhoeffer worked at the beginning of the 1930s. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, opposition groups met at the church. The protests following the search of the ‘environmental library’ in 1987 showed just how important the church’s opposition to the GDR regime was.

    (Zionskirche)

  22. @Kurt

    I thought that the official Puppy position on the votes was that all of them were evildoers? Tor/Scalzi puppets (and according to JCW sodomites) who’s votes weren’t “real”?

  24. I thought that the official Puppy position on the votes was that all of them were evildoers?

    Wrongfans having wrongfun?

  25. @TheYoungPretender:

    I thought that the official Puppy position on the votes was that all of them were evildoers? Tor/Scalzi puppets (and according to JCW sodomites) who’s votes weren’t “real”?

    That’s certainly the JCW position. His contention that he earned multiple Hugos makes mathematical sense only if everyone who voted for No Award at the top had all their downballot preferences ignored as being of no worth. It…may not be the position of all the people who beat JCW for second place in those categories.

  26. @BigelowT: “…tying them to people who came in second in the Hugos”

    It’s not even that; these are people who came in last. The people who came in second, third, etc. are not getting a Jovian, or any award. This is the “we’re giving you an award because the Hugo voters didn’t like you at all” award.

  27. @Brian z – please remember, regarding the editor category, that it is a controversial category and at least some people have been voting no award up top since back when the puppies were just a gleam in Correia’s eyes. And regarding Weisskopf, she implied that she didn’t want the award, or at least that the award is poorly thought out, when she declined to state what specific works she edited, claiming Baen’s editing process is fully a team effort. Given her “snubbing” by the Hugo voters is the closest the puppies have to aa frenemy argument re block voting for no award, those two facts are important.

    Did the scientologists raise this much fuss when their nomination manipulation was no awarded?

    Reading-wise, just finished Leviathan Awakes. Loved it to pieces. Holy crap. I try not to treat through series all at once any more, but I’m moving on to Caliban’s War now.

  28. It’s not even that; these are people who came in last.

    I think you’re misreading?

    The people who came in second, third, etc. are not getting a Jovian, or any award.

    The people who came in second in categories where No Award won are indeed the people who got Jovian Awards.

  29. Mike:
    Hope this is how one comments on everything posted for 12/17 because I can’t find a way to comment otherwise.

    13) On the Ocean Shores con – folks who are helping:

    I’m not involved with it, but – it’s Doug and Pat Booze, not Booth. They’ve been friends for at least 35 years.

  30. (17) This reminds me once again that I went to do a fanfic where a bitter forcibly retired Erin Esurance hunts down the Geico lizard. I might call it “Insurance Revoked” or something like that.

  31. I missed this post. I think it must have been in moderation for a while.

    TheWolfAmongThem on December 18, 2015 at 4:59 am said:

    The Puppies are looking at their campaign in the context of what they see as affirmative action campaigns. If the Hugos were heavily biased in favor of men, for instance, it’s probably a safe assumption that the progressive left side of SFF-fandom would try to change that–by nominating more works by women and/or encouraging more women to nominate and vote–rather than just saying, “The Hugos represent the preferences of Worldcon members and not all of fandom; if women feel we’re not representing their interests, they should start their own awards.” Same with other marginalized groups. So the Puppies said, “The Hugos are biased in favor of liberals, let’s change that by nominating more works by conservatives and/or encouraging more conservatives to vote.” And now they’re upset that we said, well, “The Hugos represent the preferences of Worldcon members and not all of fandom; if conservatives don’t like it, they can make their own awards.”

    My main problem with this narrative is that it is a fiction the Puppies used to cover their activities.

    The Puppy activity in the Hugos has clearly been for the sole purpose of getting Hugos for themselves and their buddies.

    There is no other explanation for those rosters of execrable-to-midgrade work from a closely-knit group of friends and their personal contacts, dabbed with a cosmetic woman here and there to provide deniability.

    All the Puppies’ highfalutin’ rhetoric about quality or bias or representation or tradition is a mere smokescreen.

    That’s why there are so many strange contradictions and goalpost shifts in Puppy arguments. It’s because they aren’t arguments, they are a figleaf for avarice.

  32. the love and cherishing of delightful things, created by delightful people

    Cherishing delightful things, absolutely. I did not find everything that came in second to No Award in the 2015 Hugos delightful.

    Whoever is doing this appears to have enough faith in the Hugo voters to use the results as their basis for choosing winners of the Jovian, despite the number of Hugo voters who voted for No Award in one or more categories.

    I also want to state that in most cases, the awards are for works, not people; even categories like “best professional artist” and “best editor, long form” don’t require the winners to be delightful people, but to be doing delightful work. Nowhere on the ballot is there a category for “nicest actor” or “friendliest fanzine editor.” If the ballot contains an excellent novel by an unpleasant person, and a mediocre novel by one of my friends, I will vote for the better novel, not the better dinner companion.

  33. Recommended listening: the Radio 4 full cast reading of David Mitchell’s Slade House. Half wondering about it for my personal Hugo long list, a really interesting take on the Carrion Comfort soul vampire story.

  34. The Jovian awards are a step in the right direction, in my opinion. The rhetoric might not suit us but it isn’t really meant to.

    The third heat of the Science Fiction Movie Bracket is on! VOTE FOR THE SHINIES. So many shinies. There are two films I wish I could hate vote against and absolutely would be if I’d, um, actually seen the films they were up against, but other than that: shinies.

    (I meant to have more reminders but, um. I fell asleep. Recovery times, wooo.)

  35. I was thinking about (3) and standing in line for Star Wars the opening week may have been one of the first times we actually had to stand in a long line for a movie.

    Of course our family tended to go to weekday matinees to save money. Smuggled in carrot sticks to eat.

  36. @Kurt Busiek: I guess I was misreading. I was under the impression that anyone who was beaten by No Award got a Jovian, rather than just the people in categories where No Award won the category.

  37. @TheYoungPretender: So yeah – the Jovians are a sign of the people who marched in ranks having divisions. More power to them.

    I *like* all your points–very good ones that put all together make a pretty persuasive and (more optimistic than I’d have believed possible) useful argument.

  39. I am almost caught up on Stand Still, Stay Silent.

    Next time you want to sell me on a webcomic, will you please pick someone who doesn’t draw so fricking fast.

    It’s rather lovely.

  40. I was under the impression that anyone who was beaten by No Award got a Jovian, rather than just the people in categories where No Award won the category.

    Nope. According to what’s linked above, there were five Jovians given out, only in the five categories in which No Award was the winner in the 2015 Hugos, and they went only to the immediate runners-up, not to anyone lower on the list.

    These are the “You oughtta of won a Hugo except No Award blocked you” awards, judging from who got them.

    At their Facebook page, “The Jovian Award for Science Fiction & Fantasy” claims to be a Non-Profit Organization, which as far as I know is a claim of legal status requiring papers to have been filed. I wonder if they’re listed as an official NPO anywhere?

  41. JJ: The verbiage on the Jovian site makes the same mistake as Justin Landon and a whole bunch of Puppies have made: insisting that the Hugo Awards have to represent the preferences of all SFF fans, rather than those of the Worldcon members, to whom the Hugo Awards belong.

    TheWolfAmongThem: I feel this is a little disingenuous… I think it should be stressed that the opposition to the Puppies invasion of Worldcon is that ‘conservatives are not necessarily entitled to be represented at Worldcon’ rather than that ‘nobody is entitled to be represented at Worldcon; they can be biased against anyone and it wouldn’t matter because they’re Worldcon’s awards to do with as they please.’

    I am sure that you can understand why I am more than a little unhappy that you call what I’ve said “disingenuous” without then proceeding to give a legitimate rationale as to why.

    Or perhaps you do not understand the meaning of the word “disingenuous” and you are trying to sound intellectual by using a big word despite not knowing its meaning: insincere, dishonest, untruthful, false, deceitful, duplicitous, lying, mendacious; hypocritical

    My quote above is none of those things.

    I don’t know who you are claiming said “‘nobody is entitled to be represented at Worldcon; they can be biased against anyone and it wouldn’t matter because they’re Worldcon’s awards to do with as they please”, but it certainly was not me. What I said was that the Hugo Awards represent the preferences of the members of Worldcon, rather than those of all SFF fans. And I’ll thank you not to twist my words in that way again.

  42. @Suzle

    I don’t think we have rules for commenting – people just use their best judgment on how to make it clear to everyone else what exactly they’re talking about. 🙂

  43. Next time you want to sell me on a webcomic, will you please pick someone who doesn’t draw so fricking fast.

    This is the major problem I have in reading Archipelago and Namesake. Especially Namesake, where I really need to sit down and read the whole thing to really get what is happening, and to who.

  44. Kurt: Facebook doesn’t check the legal status of an organization. If someone wants to start a page for a non-profit organization, they can just do it.

  45. TooManyJens: Facebook doesn’t check the legal status of an organization. If someone wants to start a page for a non-profit organization, they can just do it.

    In the U.S. “Non-profit organization” has a very specific legal meaning — and organizations which have not legally attained that status, but promote themselves as having done so, can be prosecuted.

  47. I don’t see any reason to doubt that the Jovian Awards is a nonprofit. I know families who have nonprofit foundations etc.

    I am okay with respecting the privacy of whoever is behind this. Seriously.

  48. Peace Is My Middle Name: I am okay with respecting the privacy of whoever is behind this. Seriously.

    I don’t think Kurt was saying, “Oh, if they’re a registered non-profit, let’s go find out who is listed on the Board”, I think he was saying “Um, it’s really not cool to promote yourself as a non-profit unless you’ve attained that legal status”.

    I don’t care who’s behind it. I just wish they had done it as a nice “we’re giving awards to stories we liked” instead of the “Hugo voters were wrong, their preferences are invalid, and we’re giving these awards to the people who waz robbed of the Hugos to which they were entitled”.

  49. I should know better than to go read any Castalia House blog, but the description of the post made it sound worthwhile as a guilty pleasure. Darn, it was not.

    The harassment policies are biased because they don’t ban pedophilia? My reducto ad absurdum response is that they also don’t ban murder, grand theft, or jaywalking either. Clearly someone doesn’t understand the difference between a private gathering having rules and the law in general.

  50. (IANAL, this is just a high-level view)

    “Non-profit” is confusing, and varies from state to state both in name and in implementation, but it’s usually tied to the ownership structure of a business. In California, it’s a corporation that has no owners to pay dividends to. It may have members (a “Membership Corporation”), or it may be held in trust for the community (a “Public Benefit Corporation”).

    “Tax-exempt” is far less confusing. In the US, it’s tied to having a non-profit corporate structure with a qualifying tax-exempt purpose (as defined by the tax code) in your articles of incorporation (and a bunch of other stuff). Tax-exemption is usually granted at the federal level first, and then also granted at the state level. What taxes a corporation is exempted from varies from state to state, in some states it’s only income tax, in some states sales tax is included.

    Private foundations are often non-profit, but rarely tax-exempt. And then there are things like the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which was formed for what is likely a qualifying tax-exempt purpose, but it’s not like that matters, it’s a for-profit LLC.

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