Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

Very quiet weekend so far, not many people online and not much happening. That's what comes of it being a holiday weekend in the UK, I guess.

So Chelsea are the new Premiership champions. I have mixed emotions about that. On the one hand, it's good it's not Arsenal or Man U. On the other, well, is a bought championship as good as one earned over time? Chelsea have spent something like 180 million pounds on their squad, a figure comparable with both Man U and Arsenal. Thing is, the other two teams did that over a period of years; Chelsea's spending spree happened in one season. Couldn't any club win something with a squad like that and a blank chequebook? I think so. Course, you still have to buy the right players and I'd be the first to say that Joe Cole, John Terry and Frank Lampard are now three times the players they were, so that's good for England. But I'm still not entirely convinced. Next season will be the proving ground.

Dr Who last night was the BEST episode of the series so far. By a country mile. I do wish they wouldn't give so much away in the trailers though. I mean, can you IMAGINE your reaction if there'd been NO hint at all as to what was in the dark room and you didn't find out until the Doctor did? Wouldn't that have blown you away? Yes, yes it would. But despite my grumblings, it was still a bloody good episode with possibly the most complex and layered writing for the Doctor in the history of the series. "You would make a good dalek". Heh.

And I see they threw Rose onto the "Idiotic companion" pile. "I'll just pat this poor, chained beastie." I'll be interested to see how the new boy fits in.

*yawns* Ooh new episode of House tonight on Hallmark. I must remember to watch. I've been so good, I've hoarded two downloaded eps to watch too :) And an episode of CSI. I may settle in and watch the CSI ep later.

*yawns again* I need tea. And I have to go shopping. My cupboards and fridge make Old Mother Hubbard look like an amateur.

Oh, and snuggles to the lithium_doll, who's struggling against the evil Hortence at the moment. (Don't ask. Go read her journal if you absolutely must know)

Egads, people are stupid. This is a conversation I just had on LbN (London By Night aka Jusnoctis, the RP site I run).

[player in OOC room with "Looking for [system] ST" in name tag]

Me, logging in to be helpful: Hi [player], [ST] won't be around for a while, best bet is an email or a forums PM.
Player: That's fine, I can just wait here.
Me: Umm, well yes, you can lurk here, but if you're waiting for [ST], she's not going to be around for the foreseeable future.
Player: Hrm. Well, I just need to talk to whoever is in charge of [system] character approvals
Me,starting to tap foot : Yes, that would [ST] . Which is why I mentioned it. Dolt.

OK, so I didn't say dolt. But I was thinking it. Bet they don't bother with the email or PM and then, in a couple of weeks, start whining that they haven't seen the ST.

Bah.

http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/693287.html#cutid2

This concerns an author who first of all commented on the number of paedophiles who are Trekkies. (It gets worse). If you read the above thread, you'll see fan fiction gets dragged into the mess.

And that's where I lose my temper.

I respect an author's right to his/her work, I do. I know famous authors are worried about being sued for stealing plots etc and that I understand too. But let's face it, the number of plagerism cases are very small and they will happen regardless of fan fiction or not. They have been happening for years and years and pre-date the Internet. What's changed is the proliferation of fan fiction. There's discussion and analysis, people bond together in communities.

This is bad? No. This will sustain interest in books and movies long after the series finishes or the books are out of print. I fail to see the bad. The Author loses no money and may well gain a far greater readership. No-one, least of all fan fiction writers, is suggesting fan fiction replaces or should be read instead of the original work. It's just a way for them to share in the wonderful world the author has created.

Yes, there is bad fan fiction. There's slash and chan and other stuff I can't name and have no desire to. So what? You think this never existed before? Beh.

I wouldn't mind, but one of the anti-fan fiction slammers is Keith Snyder, who's an author I've met and liked and a former regular on rec.arts.mystery. And I used to respect him. Now I want to dance round his books, having set them alight. (You can see his comments about half way down. Click on the "And all hell breaks loose" link to get the full post and subsequent comments).

Grrrr.