Cam's Corner of the World

I can be productive! Finished a big stop_plagiarism case (57 proven accounts of plagiarism, sheesh!), wrote another Merlin fic, made another fanvid (using a local band, hah), cleaned the back yard of leaves (oh so many leaves), watched my beloved Tromsø secure their bronze medals one round before the end of the Norwegian football league this year, read up on analytical method for teaching the letters in school, put away the bike for winter (sniff) and remembered to change the clocks to winter time.

I know several of my American flisters was at the rally this weekend, and I have to admit there seems to have been some really excellent signs there too. I think I've only been to rallies twice in my life - once as a kid when my parents took me to a 'No to EU membership' rally, and once as an adult to an anti-racism rally after the murder of Benjamin Hansen. But then, if I shared a country with some of the shit opinions I've seen come from the extreme right of the US of late, I would have been in a rally in a heartbeat. Certain things is worth speaking up against.

In any case, I hope you had a happy Halloween, Americans! (But please Norwegian commercial forces, STOP TRYING TO FORCE AN AMERICAN HOLIDAY WE HAVE NO TRADITION OF ON US. THANK YOU AND FUCK YOU.)

Still sorting out ficathon stuff - no worries, it will come to pass - just have that real life thing to balance too. Also, trying out new guild in WoW. Eek.

Speaking of WoW, if a player complains that the Maelstrom zone is not "epic" enough, what do you do? If you're Blizzard, you do this. Make it home to Epicus Maximus , a level 90 elite shark, who is being ridden by an elite rare devilsaur named riding a rocket and manning (dinosauring?) a laser beam, being ridden by an undead mage playing guitar named . You can see it captured here on YouTube.

I want that shark as a mount. Also I want Cataclysm, NOW.

In the news:

Venice gets its first female gondolier. Yeah, that took a while.

A bear cub with its head stuck in a jar is freed. Aww.

Obama backs plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero. (More about the controversy here.) Which I agree with, for several reasons. One, Islam ≠ Al-Qaeda. Anyone who claims differently, I'd say Fred Phelps and ilk (or similar hateful shits from the religion in question) then represents them. Two, if freedom is supposed to be some US bragging right, it must actually be freedom for people of different faiths too. Not just freedom for people you agree with - that's not freedom at all. Three, it's not actually on Ground Zero itself and dubbing it "Ground Zero mosque" is trying to make it sound more controversial and drum up an instinctively emotional response.

Meanwhile in Norway, I was charmed by the idiot logic in this story, where two boys in their twenties were wanting munchies during the middle of the night. Sadly, they both were too drunk to drive and knew so. Therefore, they decided to drive the lawnmower to the local night-open petrol station. Of course, the police had by then gotten reports of drunk driving on a lawnmower and was there to pick them up. Seriously, if you're too drunk to drive by own admittance, why would a lawnmower suddenly make you sober?

the ❝that's my favorite!❞ meme
A FANFICTION PRAISE MEME

And are you all ready for a new autumn/spring?

O flist, if I were to write a fic called Five Historical Events Amy Kissed the Doctor During (and One She Got Shagged During), what would be your pick of historical event?

Meanwhile, I am watching new Who until next week, so that I will have part two ready for watching immidiately after. I hate cliffhangers, so now I am trying to outsmart them. Haha!

... I'm probably going to fail miserably, aren't I?

A Chinese national has been barred entry to China and is now living at an airport in Japan. You can read his blog here.

*eyeballs Chinese government* Seriously, seriously uncool. I worry about the direction in China sometimes. Over 30 years since Mao died now and China's economy has opened, but the government hasn't opened much else.

Where will China be in another 30 years? For that matter, where will Norway be? Where will the world be? Man, I almost wish I had a flashforward to know. But I'm probably going to have to use the old-fashioned time machine to find out - life, day by day.

Meanwhile in fandom, Snape fans go off on Lily and anyone not Snape, basically. Okay, Alan Rickman IS hot (mmm-mm) but you can lust him without turning Snape into Victim of the World That Only You Understand, trust me. And without turning on sexist language and character bashing too.

(Incidentally, am I the only one to like Alan Rickman and not go mad for Snape?)

Various stuff:

- All gifts and cards were sent last week for those who signed up, so if they haven't arrived already, they will soon. (I know some have - it's nice of you let me know so I don't have to worry about lost post.) Hope they cheer up a bit.

- Been nominated for a Spock/Uhura award, apparently. (In the pre-movie category, for The Logic of Languages.) Since I've only written three for that pairing, I'm pretty flattered. Reminds me I should finish my Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover when I get time, though.

- Having the Week of Hell, which should hopefully end after the 15th when my holiday starts. If I am a bit grumpy and on edge meanwhile, please forgive me.

- New patch for World of Warcraft this week. Time to take on some Lich King arrogance, yo.

- Someone stole a Walking With Dinosaurs dinosuar! Okay, those things are proper awesome, but still. Bad thieves!

Huh, I've sat down twice now intending to write nu!Trek, and ended up finishing Doctor Who fics both times instead. One Donna, one Ten II/Rose. Sure, been meaning to do complete both for ages, but was still a bit surprised I actually did it. And I reorganized my bookshelves and got the last stuff ready for vaguely scary Tuesday and feel generally like getting stuff complete, I guess.

A question for the flist - I know some of you have been authors for the Support Stacey auctions or just know of them. It seems a good enough cause, though I'm slightly hesitant. But if I were willing to offer myself up, would anyone actually care to bid for me?

So, remember miss death-of-a-ficitonal-character-is-just-like-rape? (Bet you wish you didn't!) She's popped out to reply to some of the rather (understandably) non-supportive comments and apparently we're just not understanding her suffering. Yeah. Her suffering, being told off by rape survivors for comparing it to the death of a fiction character. Suffering. Yeah.

Oh yeah, and she still thinks the comparison is apt and anyone who doesn't think so is apparently an insensitive twat. Not her, of course. No, no. Everyone else is, including those mean, mean rape survivors.

Yeah. I think you can imagine the sort of Norwegian coarse language I'd be wanting to use at her right about now - though of course, she could possibly be a troll.

And how I wish this was a troll - Afganistan passes law that allows the man to strave his wife if she refuses to have sex with him. It includes a whole lot of other fail, too. The next time someone whines about feminism and poor men now so maligned, remind me to smack them with that law's existence.

Also, Norway and the US have teamed up to build a hospital for the victims of sexualised violence in eastern Congo. Wish it wasn't needed, but at least it's an attempt to help. And with the lastest oil fund numbers, we sure have money we could spend on good causes. (Norwegians now own 1% of the world's global share markets, which is impressive when we only number 4.7 million. Huh. How fortunes change - we were once about the poorest country in Europe.)

Meanwhile in life, my parents are demanding I find something for them to spend money on me for. Apparently, ever since buying my brother a car two years ago they've felt the need to get me something too, or it wouldn't be fair. This has bugged them enough that they've brought it up several times before, but now they're getting very insistent.

My parents really are hilariously social democratic sometimes - I will have to think of something to help their sense of balance, clearly.

And how are you awesome people?

WHAT. THE. HELL.

Mother thinks taking fourteen year old daughter to have a lie detector on a live show is a good idea and so do the presenters, apparently. Because the mother worries her kid is doing drugs and is having sex. Daughter reveals she got raped once - and that the mother knows. And still thought it was a great idea to drag her daughter to a lie detector test being aired live and ask her if she had ever had sex.

( From the broadcast )

(You can hear the whole segment here. You might feel a bit sick.)

There's apparently quite a bit of blacklash against the presenters going on after this, as mention here. But at least they didn't know in advance, unlike the mother. Still, this is soundly fail all around.

In Doctor Who news, a new Russell T. Davis interview from Comic Con about Rose and Ianto, among other things.

I have a feeling fandom's not going to love his remarks. Though RTD did make me consider something - Doctor Who had a new Doctor after the first series already. But the companion didn't change - maybe a bit of the focus on Rose was due to her being the constant.

Fics I want to write/finish:

- A post-Apocalypse fic. Not sure with which characters, but the image of surviving in the ruins of civilization evokes something in me.
- Spock/Uhura story with older!Spock appearing as well.
- "Humans Don't Dream of Gallifreyan Sheep", Donna-centric where the Doctor keeps returning to her every time her memories resurface a little.
- An AU Daybreak with ressurrection technology viable for humans as well, Ellen deciding to raise her 'children' right and a quite different ending.
- "Life's a Time Machine", human Doctor learning how to live with the most basic time machine of all.
- A Pon Farr fic where it's a problem, not the greatest sex ever.

I want my BSG DVD to arrive already. And also I was up too late last night and might have ordered some silly thing from Amazon. Including audio CD of the Star Trek movie novelization, because the DVD is not out until November. I think I'm a bit restless and impatient these days, bleh.

How are you?

BBC announces the new companion.

( Is there really any point in a spoiler cut yet? )

Meanwhile in fandom, there is trouble when an anon reviewer labels a fic dubcon and the author and friends take offence. (Encouraging friends to defend her story here, I see, while the anon reviewer declares them banned here.)

Oi. Can't really take a stand on whether or not the fic is dubcon since I haven't read it. But I'd still like to say a few things in general, because I have come across debates like this before and certain things just bug me.

( Consent, fantasies and a little sensitibity )

So in conclusion, if you want to make Cam happy - write some hot, hot consenting porn. Make the actual acting of giving consent hot and I will love you and give you happy reviews forever. Consider it a challenge.

(A previous rant on what consent is and isn't here and on the soapbox about rape.)

Or just be a little aware and care a little about this issue. Because trust me, a scary number of women will actually appreciate that.

I know I will.

So, in mah poll I did recently, one of you answered what you want me to do a post on "your evolution as a writer". Since no time is like the present to mock teenage!me and possibly get my writing juices flowing, I present:

How Cam Learned Betas Are Good (or Young!Cam, Knock That Off!)

With examples past and present and some peeks at stuff I am writing at the moment. By fandom.

( X-Files )

( Star Trek: Voyager )

( Water Rats )

( Lord of the Rings )

( CSI )

( Doctor Who )

( And now... A peek at stuff being written at the moment for Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica and CSI )

In summary, I think: I was a bubbly, overconfident, silly teenager with illusions of love. I grew up. So did my writing? Along the way, I found a style I liked to write in, and I still do.

To finish this blah, blah, my writing post, a meme I stole from lizbee:
Quote a bit of my writing at me? Find that one story of mine that you really like, and find a sentence or a paragraph that presses your prose-buttons in the right way, and comment here with it, no matter how long or short.

(My masterlist of fics written while on LJ.)

I came across this as several people I know are involed, and as such it's caught my interest. Not just because it's a fandom I was in, but also because some of the points raised in the debate got me thinking.

So. Once upon a time three hugely sucessful movies were made of a extremly influencial book. Lord of the Rings made new lust objects, gave New Zealand a hot name, sparked a massive fandom expansion and oh yeah, streams and streams of fanfic.

Among that was a fairly large load of slash, and one popular pairing was Aragorn/Legolas - probably mostly sparked by how it was played in the movie. This is turn sparked Viggo Mortsensen/Orlando Bloom fanfic. One popular writer therein was namarie120. Apparently one of her popular fanfics A Hidden Passion was "based on" Jane Eyre. Said fanfic is apparently retooled and briefly published as original fiction.

(For those wondering where I was at the time - RPF was never my thing, but I did dabble in Legolas/Gimli now and then, as I was a hardly book-fan originally, and I knew a lot of people who wrote various slash pairings and also RPF. Never knew namarie120 personally, though it is possible I've interacted with her at some point.)

It gets denounced as plagiarised.

caras_galadhon picks up on it and makes a post.

And wham! it goes. Anger at the plagiarism, friends showing up to defend namarie120, arguments over how much 'based on' covers, accusations of meanness, accusations of letting namarie120 off easy due to BNF status and fandom particpation, anger that namarie120 won an award at slashy_oscarsfor this fanfic, wankery and on and on.

Various reactions elsewhere:
- Telestilla is not happy.
- namarie120 is removed from the list of winners at slashy_oscars.
- An interesting post on plagiarism versus fanfiction.
- miladyhawke wants namarie120 to be cut some slack.
- Fandom_wank post.

Yowza.

But there are some interesting things I ponder in here, amongst them:
Is plagiarism the fandom big-bad from which there simply is no recovery?
What is the acceptable response when you've done a bad?
Is there a difference in how plagiarism is dealt with depending on how popular someone is in fandom?
Are some forms of plagiarism more serious than others - for instance, is it worse to steal from another fanfic and try to conceal your theft than to borrow from a popular published work and be lacking in your acknowledgement and citation?
Is otherwise stellar fandom participation reason to cut some slack?
What do you do when someone you really like has done a bad?

Hmm.

I mean, plagiarism is a bad, but I am pretty sure I do judge cases a bit differently depending on circumstances. I found the Cassie Edwards case now recently to be a bit extra iffy because plagiarism was shown to be so widespread through all her work, instead of being an one-off. I will react more favourably if at least an acknowledgement is attempted and the author is being more dumb than out to decieve. And how the author reacts to it will also colour my reaction - as will how defenders behave.

How about you? Opinions, thoughts? I am curious.

(And hey, I can finally use my Faramir/Eowyn icon and it being on topic. Hurrah!)

Fairly popular fanfic writer leaves CSI fandom...

... and not everyone takes that too well...

... which of course the author reacts to.

I do know the author in question somewhat and I'm feeling a bit torn. On one hand, fandom is a community of sorts and vanishing without trace will leave people understandably worried. (But I can see the point about making Grand Announcements on leaving - that can come across all the wrong ways.) On the other hand, fanfic authors are in fact not under obligation to do anything. Fandom works on a volunteery basis. I certainly won't blame anyone for putting real life first - make it an excellent one, I say.

Course, once you have shared your writing in public domain, it isn't as if you can recall that invitation. People are already in your house. You can toss them out and set up some fences, but can't change that they've already been there. (As lotus79 puts it: ¨"compare it to "real" publishing; you own the rights and can decide not to allow reprints, but copies that are already printed are no longer yours--you can't order them all hunted down and destroyed.")

I must admit I have been tempted at times to delete past fanfic, mostly because it's fandoms I've moved on from and fics I find rather crap. But I never quite have - and sometimes I still get reviews from people who seemed to enjoy it. I might not have any obligation to keep the fics up - but do I feel one still, I wonder? (I know I certainly feel one to write sometimes. Like now. Oops, need to finish three fics and start two more.)

Opinions, O Flist?