(1) DOC MARTIN. Texas A&M will give George R.R. Martin an honorary degree reports the Houston Chronicle.
Texas A&M University is set to give “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin the latest link in his maester’s chain this week, as the school offers up an honorary degree to the author.
Martin has a long history with A&M, which has been home to his writings since long before his books were picked up by HBO.
Martin, who calls himself a pack rat, regularly sends copies of just about everything he’s written, produced or been given, from games and calendars based on the series to replica swords and war hammers, to Texas A&M University’s Cushing Memorial Library and Archives. The library boasts a world-renowned sci-fi and fantasy collection and Martin’s works are its crown jewel.
Martin last year gave A&M a first-edition copy of “The Hobbit,” saying at the time that the Cushing library has one of the best science fiction and fantasy collections in the nation. The author acknowledged that A&M — “a place where people shout ‘yeehaw’ a lot, and of course lately (was) known for Johnny Football” — might seem like a strange place for such a collection.
(2) THE MEDIUM IS THE MIXED MESSAGE. Variety reports Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller has been named showrunner and co-creator of CBS’ new Star Trek series. Who suspected Hannibal would be the proving grounds for the next executive at the helm of the Trek franchise?
The new series is set to bow on CBS in January 2017, then move to CBS’ All Access digital subscription service. It will be the first original series to launch on a broadcast network but air primarily on an SVOD service.
“Bringing ‘Star Trek’ back to television means returning it to its roots, and for years those roots flourished under Bryan’s devoted care,” said Kurtzman. “His encyclopedic knowledge of ‘Trek’ canon is surpassed only by his love for Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic future, a vision that continues to guide us as we explore strange new worlds.”
The creative plan is for the series to introduce new characters and civilizations, existing outside of the mythology charted by previous series and the current movie franchises.
(3) WHO COUNTS. The Den of Geek tells us Steven Moffat has confirmed the length of the runs for the next seasons of his two BBC shows.
Speaking after receiving his OBE the other day, Steven Moffat confirmed that Doctor Who series 10 will have 13 episodes. And Sherlock series 4 will have three episodes.
(4) HMM. Anthony at the Castalia House Blog puts his finger on a problem with the Potterverse in “So You Made It Into Hufflepuff”.
Hufflepuff is noteworthy in the Harry Potter series for being supremely un-noteworthy (“A Very Potter Musical” famously lampshades this after the end of its opening number “Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts” with the immortal line “What the hell is a Hufflepuff?”). The Hufflepuff we know the best is Cedric Diggory. Diggory is a fine character, but he probably doesn’t even rank in the series’ top twenty most interesting. Even in “Goblet of Fire” we just don’t learn that much about him, except that he’s apparently an honorable man, a hard worker, and a capable wizard. Besides that – nothing.
Vox Day, pointing to the post in “The Shortchanging of House Hufflepuff”, extended the critique —
I could never figure out what Hermione was doing in Gryffindor when she was an obvious Ravensclaw. I mean, being intelligent and studious to the point of being annoying about it was the primary aspect of her personality.
(5) SORT YOURSELF. Moviepilot reports “Harry Potter Fans Are Officially Being Sorted Into Hogwarts Houses & They’re Not Happy About It!”
For now though, it seems that J.K. wants to take us back to basics. Over the weekend an official Sorting Hat quiz went live on Pottermore — and unlike the numerous ones you’ve probably taken over the years, this is the real deal because it was developed by the author herself.
Which #Hogwarts house are you in? Be sorted and have a wand choose you, now on #Pottermore: https://t.co/9WQlPBk4lg pic.twitter.com/5bMAjywjLL
— Wizarding World (@wizardingworld) January 28, 2016
The quiz determines whether you’re in Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw by asking you a series of personality questions and by placing you in a number of unique scenarios.
….Naturally, most Potter fans jumped at the chance to try out this new sorting utility — yet instead of uncontrollable excitement, many were overcome with a deep sense of despair. Indeed, when the quiz dropped, the Internet became awash with staunch criticism. Why? Well, because most people were mad they didn’t get into the house they felt they deserved to be in.
(6) A SECOND OPINION. Or if you think it’s too much bother to register at Pottermore, you can always take this quickie quiz at Moviepilot — “The Ultimate Harry Potter Sorting Quiz Will Prove Which Hogwarts House You Belong In”.
“There’s nothing hidden in your head the Sorting Hat can’t see, so try me on and I will tell you where you ought to be!”
I took it and was identified as a Gryffindor. See what a reliable quiz this is?
(7) GERSON OBIT. Scriptwriter Daniel Gerson died February 6, age 49, of brain cancer. Genre credits include Monsters, Inc., Monsters University, and Big Hero 6.
(8) COOPER OBIT. Henry S.F. Cooper Jr., the author of eight books and a writer for The New Yorker, died January 31 at the age of 82.
Mr. Cooper celebrated scientific achievement, addressed scientific failure and demystified what was behind both.
Reviewing his book “Apollo on the Moon” in 1969 in The New York Times, Franklin A. Long, who was the vice president for research at Cornell University, said that Mr. Cooper’s description of an imminent mission to the moon was “remarkably evocative” and that a reader “gets the feel of what it is like to be a crew member in the lunar module.”
Mr. Cooper began his book “Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed” this way: “At a little after 9 Central Standard Time on the night of Monday, April 13, 1970, there was, high in the western sky, a tiny flare of light that in some respects resembled a star exploding far away in our galaxy.”
The flare was caused by a cloud of frozen oxygen — a “tank failure,” as NASA engineers delicately described it — that would cripple the service module and jeopardize the crew’s return to Earth. The story was told in the 1995 film “Apollo 13,” starring Tom Hanks.
Brian Troutwine, in The Huffington Post, called Mr. Cooper’s book “one of the best technical explanations of a catastrophic failure and its resolution ever written.”
He was a descendant of famed author James Fenimore Cooper.
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY
- Born February 9, 1928 – Frank Frazetta
(10) VISIT OTHER WORLDS. NASA has issued a new series of space tourism posters.
Each new poster mixes a bit of that reality with an optimistic take on what exploring our solar system might actually look like someday. The poster for Venus calls for visitors to come see the “Cloud 9 Observatory,” which isn’t far off from an idea that’s been thrown around at NASA. The poster for Europa advertises the ability to see underwater life — something that doesn’t feel so far-fetched considering the moon is home to a global subsurface ocean.
(11) RABID PUPPIES. Vox Day has advanced to Rabid Puppies 2016: Best Editor (short-form), and in this category has only one name for his slate, Jerry Pournelle, editor of There Will Be War, Vol. X.
(12) NUMEROUS SUGGESTIONS. George R.R. Martin gave his recommendations for Short Form in “A Rocket For The Editor, Part Two”. He covers quite a few names. Martin also emphasizes that he feels there is an equivalency between last year’s slate makers and advocates for No Award in the Best Editor (Short Form) category.
All that being said… the slates, by whatever means, did throw up some legitimate Hugo-worthy nominees in this category last year, though not as many as in Long Form. One of those stood well above the others, IMNSHO. The Hugo really should have gone to MIKE RESNICK. Resnick has a long and distinguished career as an anthologist, one stretching back decades, and while he has plenty of rockets on his mantle at home, and even more crashed upside down rockets on the shirts he wears at worldcon, he had never been recognized for his work as an editor before. In addition, Resnick had founded a new SF magazine, GALAXY’S EDGE; in an age when the older magazines are struggling just to keep going, starting up a new one is a bold act (maybe a little insane) that deserves applause. But even more than that, Resnick has been a mentor to generations of new young writers, featuring them in his anthologies and now his magazine, advising them, nurturing them, teaching them, even collaborating with them. His “writer babies,” I have heard them called. In a way, Resnick is a one-man Clarion. Finding and nurturing new talent is one of an editor’s most important tasks, and Resnick has been doing it, and doing it well, for decades.
He got my Hugo vote. He got a lot of other Hugo votes as well. But not enough to win. As with Long Form, this category went to No Award. The work that the Sad and Rabid Puppies began to wreck this Hugo category was completed by Steve Davidson of AMAZING, Deirdre Saoirse Moan, and the rest of the Nuclear Fans. Resnick was never part of the slates, fwiw. He took no part in the Puppy Wars on either side, preferring to stay above the fray. And he did deserve a Hugo. But guilt by association prevailed, and he was voted down with the rest. A real pity.
Now there are Nuclear Fans, to go along with the other names people get called? And, in the circumstances, a very unfortunate misspelling of Moen’s name?
(13) SHATNER ON NIMOY. Jen Chaney reviews Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship With A Remarkable Man by William Shatner (with David Fisher) in the Washington Post.
A few years before Leonard Nimoy died last February at age 83, he stopped speaking to William Shatner, his close friend since their many “Star Trek” adventures. As he explains in “Leonard,” his new book about that relationship, Shatner still isn’t sure what caused Nimoy to freeze out his Starship Enterprise other half. “It remains a mystery to me, and it is heartbreaking, heartbreaking,” Shatner writes. “It is something I will wonder about, and regret, forever.”
That revelation, both personal and laden with questions, is very much in keeping with the overall tone of Shatner’s book. At times, the actor recounts his connection to Nimoy with great candor and reverence, particularly when he discusses how that bond solidified after the death of Shatner’s third wife, Nerine Kidd, who drowned in the couple’s pool in 1999. But readers may wish they got a little more fly-on-the-wall perspective on the lengthy friendship born in a place where few are: on the set of an iconic sci-fi TV series. As Shatner says at one point, “When I think about Leonard, my memories are emotional more than specific.” His memories often read that way, too.
(14) TREK PARODY ON STAGE. Boldly Go!, a musical parody based upon Star Trek, opens February 26 at Caltech Theater in Pasadena, CA.
Boldly Go! follows the intrepid crew of the Starship Enterprise, along with some new characters, on an exciting and hilarious adventure.
Assumptions will be confronted, paradigms challenged, alliances tested, and new contacts made – whether for good or ill as yet to be seen. And it’s all set to a side-splitting tour de force of musical mayhem!
While having fun with the sometimes farcical aspects of science fiction and parodying Star Trek, this new show also satirizes the musical theater genre. Boldly Go! is written by brothers Cole Remmen (University of Minnesota Theatre Arts Senior) and Grant Remmen (Caltech theoretical physics graduate student). The Caltech world premiere, featuring a talented cast from the Caltech and Jet Propulsion Lab communities, is being directed by Theater Arts Caltech director Brian Brophy (Star Trek TNG; Shawshank Redemption; PhD Comics 2).
A series of short videos about the production can be viewed at the site.
(15) HARRYHAUSEN CAMEO. John King Tarpinian enthused about Burke & Hare —
Watched this Simon Pegg movie yesterday. Even in period costume most of the actors were recognizable…except one who looked very familiar but I could not put my finger on who he was. The ending credits identified him as Ray Harryhausen…a pleasant surprise.
Harryhausen can be seen in the closing credits at 1:03.
[Thanks to Brian Z., John King Tarpinian, Chip Hitchcock, Michael J. Walsh and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Steve Wright.]
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
This seems an opportune place to note that I am greatly enjoying The Raven and the Reindeer; RedWombat’s ability to send the reader in completely unexpected directions is downright awesome.
I too am unhappy with GRR Martin’s ability to ignore inconvenient facts; I read every single one of the sample chapters Sheila Gilbert provided in the Hugo packet, and I voted for her because of those chapters, as well as buying some of the books. Martin appears to be quite happy to ignore the difference between 17 sample chapters provided by the editor in support of her authors, and the total absence of anything at all from the Baen editors which would enable us to make an informed decision.
And no, GRR Martin telling us what good editors the people at Baen are doesn’t constitute useful information on which to base an informed decision. We don’t even know which books they edited, and we do know that Toni says she has followed Jim Baen’s philosophy of ‘don’t edit’. How the hell am I supposed to vote for a best editor without knowing what, if anything, they have edited?
Camestros Felapton said:
As a thought experiment I once tried working out what the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin equivalents in a North American school working from local mythology would have as mascots, and came up with: Bear, Beaver, Raven, and Coyote.
Also, thunderbird feather barbs would be an option for wand cores.
@Richard Gadsden
I’m glad I was able to help. As I said I’ve spent hours coming to my voting conclusions.
As far as I’m concerned once I’ve hit NA whatever is left isn’t worthy to be ranked. In my opinion it shouldn’t have made it to the finalists. This may be because of writing or because it was on a slate.
My understanding on ranking something below No Award is that it’s effectively saying “if one of these things has to win, I’d be least appalled if it was this one.”
So, an entirely hypothetical ballot of mine might read something like:-
1 – The Nine-Carcass Enigma, by Hu Gowin
2 – The Boglin Runnerup, by Sandra Duette
3 – No Award
4 – “The Day My Story Was the Only Legitimate Nominee Left On the Ballot”, by Tobias Whinie Dumpedguie
(unranked) – “Portentous Claptrap That Should Be Cast Out Into The Darkness Where There Is Wailing And Gnashing Of Teeth” by John Z. Upjohn, “Just Checking: Misogyny and Racism – Still Funny, Yeah?” by William X. Michaelson.
That way, if all the acceptable-to-me candidates are eliminated earlier, at least my vote supports the Flanders Goldfish Murderer ahead of the other two.
(Ahem. Entirely hypothetical. No resemblance intended to any persons living, dead, or rabid.)
Cat: If you do not rank all nominees on your ballot, at the point in the runoff process where all the items on your ballot have been eliminated, your ballot is set aside. It is not counted as a vote for something you have not listed.
Raven works everywhere 🙂
I see the collected edition of the first 6 issues of Kurt’s Autumnlands is only $7.99 on Comixology.
GRRM has clarified:
(12) I don’t always agree with GRRM and this is another occasion. The Hugo is not a lifetime achievement award so what did Resnick edit in the 2014 year that made him eligible & was that Hugo-worthy?
(Nb: file770.com has been down the last day according to my phone. Bad phone! )
Camestros Felapton said:
Indeed, every culture that has ever come into contact with ravens has noticed that they are scary-smart.
Pat of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has made an ass of himself.
Books! (Ironically, both by men.)
The Thing Itself by Adam Roberts: The Goodreads/Amazon descriptions of this are somewhat accurate when it comes to Chapter 1, but misleading if applied to the book as a whole. This isn’t a “The Thing”-esque story of madness in the Antarctic—it starts out that way, but the story follows somewhat different routes in subsequent chapters. Some chapters are told in straight prose, but others are told as diary entries, stream-of-consciousness, etc., so be prepared for that. Overall, there was a lot to enjoy here. I thought the ending could have been stronger, and some of the less straightforwardly-told sections tried my patience a bit, but the ideas about perception and reality kept my attention, and I thought the nonlinear plot structure worked well.
Travelers Rest by Keith Lee Morris: A family pulls off the interstate during a snowstorm and ends up at a mysterious hotel where space and time don’t always follow the rules. There is an interesting story here, and the author generally did not skimp when it comes to characterization . . . but dear god, the pacing is glacial. Parts are genuinely spooky, but the author really enjoyed having his characters spin their wheels, and the repetition and bloat do the story no favors. But the parts that worked, worked well.
I’ve never seen the point of ranking anything after “no award”. I don’t want to vote for a mediocre story ahead of an awful one. If it isn’t worthy I don’t want to vote for it at all.
I think it was the way they would correct errors in my calculus homework that impressed me but really they aren’t that smart – they suck at integrals of trig functions.
Again? He really has a knack for it.
The popularity of his blog baffles me, BTW. He writes just about the most bland reviews I’ve ever come across.
5,
Cool! And…
Wait – House Sparklypoo ?!?
so what did Resnick edit in the 2014 year that made him eligible
Galaxy’s Edge.
Hi, Brian Z.!
Are you planning on responding to my question about how the analysis of EPH would affect your nominations for this year?
Aww, thanks, Stevie!
I want the Australian Hufflepuffs to be named something like “Womblesnug.” Griffindor is Dropbear and they’re a koala. (Koalas are vicious!) Slytherin-equivalent is Funnelweb, both the house and the mascot. Ravenclaw is spoiled for bird choices, and there’s the uniquely Australian Spinestrong house, which has an echidna mascot and specializes in baffling non-Australians.
I always thought Hufflepuffs would go into agriculture and social justice. Lotta Herbologists working on urban gardening systems and stuff.
Glad to join the other badgers! (Especially after Red Wombat’s fanfic.)
On a vastly unrelated note .. am I the only one who is getting the urge, whenever encountering the word “combat”, to replace the “c” … with a “w”?
Galaxy’s Edge is not a publication for which its editor can be considered award-worthy. It’s just a technical qualification for a lifetime achievement prize.
@Australian Magic School
The Slytherin equivalent would have too many animals to choose from.
(Not sure why Australia has gotten a reputation as deadly animal central, but let’s just go with it here.)
@Christian Brunschen
am I the only one who is getting the urge, whenever encountering the word “combat”, to replace the “c” … with a “w”?
Damn, I’ll never see Mortal Kombat the same way again.
Brian Z,
Please read to the end of my question you have selectively (mis)quoted. I included it in full above & bolded the bit you missed for your convenience.
Wait, Mike G, did you unpublish a Brian Z comment directed at me? The one I just replied to? I guess readers will just have to infer from my response how I was misquoted. And the accompanying namecalling directed at me? Only a select few will ever know what it was.
@LoisTilton ?
@Soon Lee
As a member of the select few, I think Brian swiftly edited his comment.
Soon Lee: No. All I have been doing is making an edit to a Barry Deutsch comment, with his consent, to delete the JCW quote (but leave the link).
Soon Lee asked “so what did Resnick edit in the 2014 year that made him eligible & was that Hugo-worthy?”
And Brian Z replied “Galaxy’s Edge.”
So, nothing then.
@Mike & Mark kitteh (may I call you Mark kitteh?),
Yes, looks like he’s playing games with the edit window. The original response below the quoted text was not “Galaxy’s Edge”. I have a copy in my inbox because I did the ::ticky::
ETA:If that original comment had been deleted, it would not have surprised me.
Soon Lee: I missed the juicy part.
Hm, does this mean I need to subscribe to my own RSS feed?
Then my next big decision — should I ticky or God stalk?
Mike Glyer,
Brian Z’s original answer, before the edit to “Galaxy’s Edge”, was a tripled accusation of lack of veracity.
Unlike those who ticked the ticky-box, I don’t have it in hard copy; I just happened to have stumbled on it before the edit….
I have never shouted “yeehaw”, nor do I know anyone who has. But I have been to the Cushing library – alas, it wasn’t publicised well so I didn’t know it was there until I was a senior.
Nice picks but I disagree on some:
Ozzie-Slytherin: dangerous snakes are too common in Australia and Slytherin is too snobby to pick anything common. As these would be *Australian* snobs in a private school, they would naturally pick a very symbolically *British* animal in a way that is more British than British people would be (c.f. the Queen’s Birthday is a public holiday in Australia but is not a public holiday in the UK). Consequently their animal would be a heraldic lion wearing a union-jack and a bowler hat.
Gryffindor: Drop bear or bunyip makes sense and in keeping with the mythological animal theme. However, I’d suggest the funnel-web is a better symbol of courage than any other animal on Earth. Aside from a few apex predators they are one of the few animals that aren’t more-scared-of-you-than-you-are-of-it.
Ravens are clearly the little black dress of magical school houses.
(5) SORT YOURSELF. I admit I’ve always seen Hermione as more Ravenclaw (her first thought is to turn to research, rather than attack), but if I could change canon sorting, it would be to place Crabbe and Doyle into Hufflepuff. They’re loyal followers, not ambitious schemers.
In addition to being scary smart, ravens are also quite brave. I was at home a few years ago between jobs in the summer and saw a huge bald eagle (seriously huge; it looked about the size of a medium sized goat up there) absolutely tearing across the horse pasture (no dignified gliding here), pursued hotly by two nearlyas enormous ravens.
They disappeared over the ridge at the back of the house, but I’ve always wondered how that one ended…. Or how it started, for that matter.
You have a ten foot long wand?
I guess it’s more useful than a ten-foot pole, at least.
Simon:
What a fantastic bargain!
It’s even cheaper via Amazon, in either paperback or digital.
And there’s a new issue out today with a village of beer-drinking sheep in it. I mention this because I wouldn’t have thought beer-drinking sheep-people would go over so well with comics readers, but on Twitter the reaction seems quite positive.
Steve Davidson – Yes ???
(12) NUMEROUS SUGGESTIONS:
Oh GRRM. You’ve written a lot of sentences but this particular sentence is one of the more cringeworthy you’ve produced.
Also, from a GRRM comment reply:
So as long as the Pups only nominate good things and people, they can hog all 5 finalist slots with their picks for eternity? Because good things will still get awarded? *facepalm*
Yeah, that’s a hell of a difference. Honestly, I’d rather have scattered Worldcon voters nominate a ballot full of mediocre works than have a finalist list of utter brilliance compiled by five people who told their followers what to pick. So I fundamentally disagree with GRRM. The fact that the Puppies’ tastes are generally crap was never my issue with them. (People can like what they like.) The fact that they swamped the ballot with their picks, whatever the picks were, is a far bigger problem in my opinion.
What’s the hate on Galaxy’s Edge? I confess I’ve not heard of it before today, but looking at the website it seems a credible contender.
@Wildcat
The quality of the work has to have something to do with the nomination. Having five people choose the nominees doesn’t sound very democratic, but still, quality should win out over the social/political content of a story/novel. The low quality of the Puppies nominations last year left me concerned about the condition of SF as a genre.
What’s the hate on Galaxy’s Edge?
There’s a wide gulf between “hate” and “not really good enough for a Hugo”.
@Richard Gadsden
No, I was just looking at your version and thinking it was great! Very clear! Sometimes the fully written out way of saying a thing is better.
@Bitty
I did that too. Another shorthand for what I said is “ranking below No Award cannot help anything win (because of the final comparison against No Award, for starters.) It can help something truly egregious lose.”
@ Mike,
Yes, once the ballot counters get to the first unfilled slot your ballot is set aside. At that point it cannot promote anything left off over any other thing also left off. So imagine the limiting case; the only one where ranking matters:
Every ballot but yours has been counted.
The things you liked have been eliminated, even counting your votes.
No Award has been eliminated, even counting your vote.
And all the stuff you hated is tied for first place and that shiny Hugo.
Do you want “Sawdust” to win over “Good Grief” and “Poison Oak Casserole”? Rank them below No Award. Do you want “Sawdust,” “Good Grief” and “Poison Oak Casserole” to each win a Hugo? Leave them off.
Because of the No Award test, that is the only case, as far as I can tell, where ranking below No Award makes a speck of difference.
@Wildcat
Hmm. I wonder if we’re just having a fundamental value disconnect here. GRRM wants the Hugos to be a great way to find interesting new stories more than he wants them to be fair and honest, and you and I feel that fair and honest is more important. I also feel that fair and honest will inevitably garner more interesting new stories but I admit that is to some degree an article of faith.
@Lois Tilton – I was trying to communicate that I did not understand what you were trying to indicate.
4 – “The Day My Story Was the Only Legitimate Nominee Left On the Ballot”, by Tobias Whinie Dumpedguie
(unranked) – “Portentous Claptrap That Should Be Cast Out Into The Darkness Where There Is Wailing And Gnashing Of Teeth” by John Z. Upjohn, “Just Checking: Misogyny and Racism – Still Funny, Yeah?” by William X. Michaelson.
Heh. *snort* Those sound like better stories than some of the ones we actually got.
Count me among the people who hated the Heuvelt story. He’s a fine writer, but that story was one of the stupidest things I’ve read in a good while. I wished that whiny main character had floated off into the sky along with everyone else. Slate or not, I didn’t vote for it.
As far as voting goes, last year I did vote for things that I felt were of merit. (As far as the slate nominees went, there was just nothing, or almost nothing, of merit.) I feel that frees my conscience to vote similarly this year, no matter what any Constipated Canines do or don’t do. (With the sole exception of saying that I will not read or vote for anything of Mr Beale or Mr. Wright’s ever again. I have had my fill of both of them.)
This seems to fit in nicely with the discussion of Hogwarts houses and animal mascots: I have just stumbled across the fact that my place of employment has a Standard Operating Procedure entitled “Operation of Unicorn Control Systems”.
It would spoil this post entirely to say anything further.
That Resnick might have been a worthy candidate for the editor award some years ago, but not for work done in 2014.
With the games being played this year my strict anti-slate position is having a hard time. In past years I’ve stuck to authors/editors/artist must disavow slates at some point*. This year when people like Andy Weir are clearly stating I don’t get involved in politics. I’m not sure how I feel.
*there are many ways to do this (straight out, write outrage against slates in general, ask to be removed, be involved in reducing slate effectiveness, etc.). It can be done in previous years if they’ve stated they are anti-slate forever unless I see anything to indicate their opinion has changed.
ETA: I probably won’t nominate those I’m not sure how I feel about
Kurt: You have a ten foot long wand?
I know every dirty wand joke in existence, and I’m trying very hard not to make any of them. I hope you appreciate my restraint.