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deliciousscaloppine · 3 years

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Hot Takes Galore: A brief overview of fandom backlashes that influenced fanfiction writing traditions as I have personally experienced them:

In today’s segment I am going to talk about copyright infringement.

First let me preface this by saying I have only ever been in 3 fandoms, starting from 2008 and I have never been terribly active - like this blog has been the most active I’ve ever been in any fandom ever. I am not going to talk about particular fandom dramas because I am pretty clueless about that. What I am going to talk about is that friction between “reality” and online spaces that brought about changes that are still in effect today in the way fanfiction is written and perceived.

In 2008 as I was entering, nearly every piece of fanfiction had a disclaimer about the author not owning the characters, which were the property of Corporate Entity X, or Author Y, and also not profiting from the work in any shape or form. At the time getting money from writing fanfiction was a gigantic taboo, and almost no one did it, or advertised that they did.

But as I understand through convention culture printed writing did circulate in exchange for money (zines), and at least in Japan one could sell doujinshis (self-published stories and comics, often within the framework of another work) in certain events. Although this was largely considered “illegal” under copyright laws, and artists could be persecuted or blacklisted from entering the industry if discovered. That’s also why fanartists often to this day may screen where and when their work is viewed, and move to take down reposts, or call others to protest if artworks are circulated without permission outside of the artist’s page.

Older fandom people also hated authors that moved against fanfiction, a big case being Anne Rice, the vampire lady everyone - including me - copies when writing about vampires. And now I am going to talk a little about that.

Usually, writers, just sit somewhere cosy and write, and often they have no idea, absolutely no idea, on how to manage their writing properties - usually a lawyer does that, and lawyers want A Lot Of Money (A brief brush with justice and lawyers over a civil dispute I won, cost me 1000 euros out of nowhere, in a single day, and no I couldn’t avoid it because I was the accused one, so I had to appear with some representation).

So sometimes, quite often, it’s a lawyer that activates a writer or other artist to move against “smaller” copyright infringements, in order to make bank. And if one suffers such a case, they should make it as apparent as possible to the other party that they have no money, and the pressure will go away immediately. But even MORE OFTEN a small copyright infringement, may lead to a sequence of bigger ones, and ultimately the de facto loss of rights from one’s writing properties, and of course revenue.

And for a lot of published authors, they just don’t know for how long they can publish things - publishing houses that have them signed can close, book sales can drop, tastes change, personal problems, and anything else may mean that they could find themselves without a source of income at any point in the future, while they are aging and becoming more and more irrelevant.

A very famous case currently, is that of Alan Dean Foster, the writer who has done some novelizations for movies like Star Wars and Alien, and is no longer receiving revenue from that - while his wife is hospitalized and their family needs the income - because Disney absorbed the company that had signed the contract with him, and chose to not honor the previous contract. To make them pay he will have to go into a huge legal battle with a corporate giant, which he cannot afford. But they still absorb income from these novelizations.

But how does fanfiction tie into that, and Anne Rice’s case (which if memory serves right, also went through a series of personal problems, including her husband’s death during that time).

So for a lot of writers, fanfiction may be that tiny breach that may threaten their rights in the future from tresspases of distribution networks. Meaning, people write vampire fanfiction based on Anne Rice’s work? What if another publishing house used the template of her works (historical settings, bleeding orifices, religious themes, homosexuality and sexual trauma etc) and produced a royalty free series of such works with a team of professional writers that do not own the work - who often have less rights, like not owning the characters, or the storylines, participating in a very small scale, so their payment goes down etc)

And in this way EVERYONE SUFFERS. Big Name Published Author fades into obscurity and goes into poverty and payroll writers are horrifically abused.

A lot of hobbyists, and hobbyist writers whose sole dream is to be published in some shape or form, do not really care, and do not concern themselves with the legal aspect of creation, or the technical skill that it takes to produce writing on a consistent basis, which can only happen if you’ve got your basic needs covered. So they might see this type of backlash as inherently privileged.

But it’s not really a privilege, there has been a global recession in basic working rights for everyone, and lovers of fiction don’t have to condone, of course, attacks against them, but they need to put that kind of backlash in perspective. Someone did write the content you enjoy, THEY ARE NOT DEAD YET, and may have opinions on how it should be managed, especially when it pertains to their livelihood.

It’s a delicate balance that we all must keep in order to keep corporate regulations out of it.

For instance with the recent danmei explosion The Untamed brought forth, Ao3 was banned in China. Now a lot of you might know that this was caused by some real person fic involving the actor Xiao Zhan, which led to a whole other level of drama. But make no mistake this was a political act to protect the interests of the domestic publishing industry as it prepares to do an international opening that will bring in several billions from foreign markets.

Because Ao3 has been expanding as a platform globally it brings about changes, and in many cases steals readers away from traditional publishing, so it becomes unacceptable economically for a bunch of hobbyists to influence tastes, market mores, and create sensationalism around certain properties out of literally the blue. This is not a good thing for a lot of corporate thinking, they set the product and we are supposed to buy it. We are not supposed to go, it would look greater with a bunch of anal, and then put forth a million words altering the character of the intellectual property.

Why you ask? Again, because another publishing industry might choose to imitate the style of danmei fanfics and produce works that hijack readership, or lead to breach of contracts, making an unsafe environment for workers in this industry (Xiao Zhan’s case.)

Nowadays I see more and more fanfic authors coming out of their shell to ask money for writing in the form of donations, patronage and commissions, as fandom involvement is also becoming vastly monetized. The market of conventions coming into social media platforms. A strange more exists still in which while “legally wrong”, as long as money is not asked on the publishing platform (Ao3), it may not count as copyright infringement. But fanfic authors, may still be treated with hostility for this, for not “deserving” to profit from someone else’s properties, or even worse for “stealing” readership.

For instance a recent argument I have seen from lgbtq authors, is that they remain unsupported by fandom spaces, who often proclaim themselves as lgbtq or lgbtq friendly (something that is not true), but at the same time they are not looking for published lgbtq stories, or authors, or even treat these with open hostility, or a lot of bias.

Fandom is not comprised from “readers” in the traditional sense, definitely not friends of literature, and it’s free, no one really has to pay anything to read a published fanfic. So it’s a pretty loose demographic with no set characteristics, and no interest in investing time and money in something for long. It’s an online social activity and not a readers’ movement, highly influenced by peer pressure and branding. It’s basically a gigantic group of people who don’t really do anything for no one, and may develop a parasitic connection to intellectual properties (I am sorry peers, it’s the truth).

And it’s perhaps the biggest counterculture scene at the moment in the developed world. To this day it treats even its own authors with tremendous suspicion, disregard and dismissal, meaning that even if someone can get some money and recognition locally through writing fanfic they are on thin fucking ice at all times for all the reasons but mostly attracting unnecessary attention to themselves and subsequently the scene. A pattern that we will see is endemic to all forms of fandom backlashes.

So to this day in contrast with fanart, fan writers may not be compensated for their troubles, but may also be ousted from their domestic professional spaces for writing fanfic that may infringe on their intellectual property.

The thing is, for me, that fandom culture can become incredibly supportive of corporate practices that harm actual people (writers, they are people too) but when they realize that the same corporate practices may be used against them, it’s too late to realize that it’s not a lottery of who wins by crying more, and by the time that happens, a corporation or industry who has used them to do its dark bidding, can stop catering to them because ultimately they have become again irrelevant once a well defined demographic of readers and viewers has been secured.

So if you are going to do counterculture, at least do it right. Be respectful of the writers/authors of the content you consume and mindful of their troubles, do not generate public strife that brings in political regulation in favor of corporate interests. Become interested in writing culture, support your fanfic authors with lasting engagement in their work, even if it escapes the narrow confines of a certain fandom. It’s simple. Eat, live, pray, fuck, or something.

#fandom history?

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arcaneartiste · 4 years

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I’ve been doing FebHueAry, a challenge by korilynneillo to create art every day of February following this color palette. I’ve had a lot of fun with it this first week, and I’m excited to see what I’ll make the rest of the month.

Probably gonna make a free zine out of these like I did with 2018 inktober and what I’m going to eventually do with 2019 inktober once I finish cleaning up the scans.

Image Descriptions 1: A pen and ink drawing of Marie from the Disney movie The Aristocats. Her bows are colored pink, and she’s sitting with her back to the viewer but her head over her shoulder, facing the viewer. Text around her: Ladies don’t start fights. But they can finish them.

2. A pen and ink drawing of Aleyn, my original character, with his right arm out stretched with orange flames circling it. In his other hand he’s holding a quarter staff. He’s standing in an alert posture, looking towards the viewer’s right. He’s a slightly chubby black man with his hair pulled back into a bun.

3. A pen and ink drawing of Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. His hair and eyes are painted golden yellow. He’s standing at a three quarter view, his back mostly turned towards the viewer, showing the flamel on his coat. He’s looking into the distance, determined and hopeful. Behind him is the sky with a ray of light shining on his face.

4. A pen and ink drawing of a window with houseplants sitting on the sill. The window is in a dark room, with the window shining on the plants. There are three shelves of plants. The first shelf has a small plant, a big plant, then a small plant. The second shelf has a big plant, a small plant, and a big plant. The third shelf has a small plant, a big plant, and a small plant. The plants are painted green.

5. A pen and ink drawing of a mermaid holding a diver’s helmet. The ocean behind her is painted blue.

6. A pen and ink drawing of Mara from She Ra and the Princesses of Power. Her hair is in her trademark pony tail, and she’s looking into the distance. The background behind her is painted purple, and behind her is She Ra in First One’s writing.

7: A pen and ink drawing of orangey-brown leaves falling.

#febhueary #digital art #procreate #doodles #fan art #fullmetal alchemist #edward elric #disney #the aristocats #aleyn #katie and roland #mara #she ra #arcane artiste #my art

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onceuponayoi · 5 years

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Hello freindly fae, I hope everyone is enjoying the spring!

Today I'd like to address the subject of what we at the zine consider a fairytale

There is a short run-down on our rules page but we know that this is a fairly grey area still, so we wanted to provide a more detailed post

-All cultures have fairytales, fairytales are not limited to just the classic European stories like Hansel And Gretel and Cinderella, we will gladly accept and encourage fairytales from ANY culture, no matter how obscure they are

-Fairytales are specifically stories, not creatures, so wile we DEFINITELY encourage you to use whatever magical or cryptozoological creature(s) you want, please make sure it's coordinated with a fairytale as well! (IE: You can absolutely use werewolves in your story, just make sure that the story is based on something like Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs, rather than just a story that happens to include werewolves)

-Fairytales very often have alot of variations to them, and you may use ANY variation you want! Just because one version may be more popular than the other, it doesn't mean you have to use that one, for example, the most popular version of Little Red Riding Hood is the Brothers Grimm version, but you can also use the movie Red Riding Hood for inspiration, the Ever After High version, the original version- The Path Of Pins And Needles- or any other version you choose!

-We DO allow "storybook" fairytales as well, such as Peter Pan, Alice In Wonderland, and The Wizard Of Oz (and yes, that means we allow variants of these like Disney Fairies and Wicked as well) We will also tentatively allow The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, as the format closely resembles a fairytale's, and it has become as common a feature in children's stories as the others (not that *all* fairytales have to be for children, but it's a factor in many of them)

-You don't have to get your fairytale from a traditional book format! Ballets, movies, even manga and anime count! What's important is to make sure that it's a fairytale you're drawing from, that it has all of the elements, rather than modern fantasy (IE: something such as Harry Potter)

-We also allow not only modern versions of fairytales (such as Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Into The Woods, Once Upon A Time, and Ever After High) as well as modern fairytales like the one featured in Lady In The Water, The Book Of Life, and The Shape Of Water; things like Grimm and Tell Me A Story are also allowed but we stress that you put the focus on the fairytale your peice is based on when in a hyper-modernized setting like this

-We also allow writers to come up with original fairytales if they so choose, but ask that you run these by us before deciding with certainty on them, as want to make sure that the story fits with the fairytale format and contains common fairytale themes

-Just because it's a fairytale, that doesn't mean it has to be sunshine and roses! We welcome darker interpretations, "realistic" interpretations, and interpretations that combine other themes such as steampunk, coffee shop AUs, and even incorporating it into YOI canon! We just ask that you make sure the fairytale you take inspiration from is portrayed clearly enough to be understood right away

-What we do NOT consider fairytales are:

o.Mythology and lore (wich includes magical creatures that do not have a specific story centered around them, IE: a pheonix alone is mythology, not a fairytale)

o.Anything that has or once had religious value- including but not limited to Norse lore (Thor, Loki, Freya), Greek lore (Hades & Persephone, Posiden, Zeus), Egyptian lore (Anubis, Osiris, Bastet) etc, as this is considered lore (or mythology, depending on your word choice and personal opinion) NOT fairytales- yes, this means Hercules is also out I'm afraid, as well as anything based on American Gods

o.Modern fantasy, including but not-limited to: Harry Potter, Shadowhunters, Lord Of The Rings*, Twilight, Percy Jackson, etc (*If there is an actual fairytale that is considered a fairytale in the Tolkein verse, that may be up for debate, LOTR or The Hobbit themselves, we do not consider fairytales)

o.Urban legends, including but not limited to: Bloody Mary, The Woman In White, Slenderman, or anything else that relies on the factor of "This is a story that I heard that may or may not be true" storytelling, or any other kind of folklore, sorry spooky freinds! There will be other options for this down the line, but right now we're specifically looking for fairytales

With that said, June 10th is only a couple of weeks away now and we're SO looking forward to seeing your applications come in, please follow us to make sure you're up to date on the latest news when it comes about! See you next level!

#yuri on ice zine #yuri on ice #yoi #yoi zine #fanzine #updates

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shancedisneyzines · 6 years

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“MANY THANKS TO DREAMWORKS FOR PUTTING LANCE IN COMPROMISING POSITIONS EACH SEASON AND MAKING NYANCE CANON. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!” @dabsoftboi | He/They | Artist

What's your all-time favorite Disney animated movie?

It's not easy to pick one but i'm going to go with Lady and the Tramp, the story was always so comforting and fun and I love the characters so so much, especially how they interact with each other. I'm also a hopeless romantic so /that/ scene has my feelys by the ear. I also just really, REALLY love dogs...Like they're so good wthecki

Which Disney animated movie protagonist do you relate to the most?

I'd probably have to pick Nick from Zootopia because i too love to joke away my sadness and I love his sarcasm...plus he's a coffee and sunglasses dude. (if it had to be human though i'd pick Elsa because i ADORE ice and i am also the mum friend who frets a lot but wants to have fun)

On a scale of 1-10, how excited are you for this zine?

the number doesn't exist cos im too quiznacking excited

Have you participated in any other Voltron zines?

So far it's been this and Kiss Me! which is incredibly fun and exciting and i am super grateful for all the hard work put into making this into a reality and love being part of a great team!

Final Words: “give shance a chance ! and be kind to yo self”

All Creators | FAQ | Schedule | Twitter | Instagram

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wisestudentninja · 6 years

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July 2018 Featured Creator

What is a Featured Creator?

Write Way Studio’s “Featured Creator” segment is my way of showing appreciation for the creators of the world. Creative outlets are limitless, because there is no end to human imagination. Every month shows the succeeding featured creator. If you would like to be a part of this collaborative project, contact me at [email protected]!

My tenth guest creator is an artist and writer known as Emi!

Introduction

This lovely lady goes by both Emi and Emily! She was born the sixteenth of March, currently twenty-one years old. Her home resides in New York. At the moment, she is a college student going for Computer Animation and Interactive Media, with an Associate’s in Illustration. She absolutely adores character design, complete with storyboarding and writing in the art of storytelling. As an emphasis on her passion, Emi confessed that “you can always catch me with a sketchbook in hand and story ideas to discuss.”

She comes from a variety of educational backgrounds, from primary Catholic school, public high school and then the college she presently attends, the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City (or FIT for short). There is one year left for her Bachelor’s degree. She is unsure of what she will do afterward, either to go to a community college to potentially gain a teaching degree or extend her Bachelor’s into a Master’s degree after the graduation from FIT.

What Sparked the Creator Passion?

Cartoons and video games influenced Emi early in life. For television, she grew up on PBS Kids and KidsWB while her older brothers played with a Nintendo 64 and GameCube. Nowadays, it’s mostly cartoons she watches, especially if it is animated. She plays any video games she can get her hands on – new and old! A family trait of hers that she inherited would be the artist’s eye, a characteristic that would influence her even today.

An Animated Beginning

Emi revealed that “the game that really sky-rocketed [her] love for the world of imagination, and still fuels [her] to this day, is The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.” There are numerous other games she played when she was younger. Banjo Kazooie, Yoshi Story and Spyro name a small few. Japanese-based games introduced her to the world of anime and manga after she discovered the Internet. There were multiple phases as she cycled through an assortment of anime, from Sgt. Frog, Ouran High School Host Club, Black Butler, and Princess Jellyfish. All of them have led to her current obsession, My Hero Academia. Studio Ghibli also holds a special place in her heart.

She recently read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and thoroughly enjoyed the book. She is currently invested in a book called Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates; it is a fictional story sharing the inner thoughts and feelings of the one and only Marilyn Monroe. Emi confessed that Oates is her favorite author since “her level of writing is where I aspire to be.”

“We All Live In A Yellow Submarine”

Yet, there is one film that stands above the rest in her eyes. As she called it, “the magnum opus of all animation, imagination, storytelling, creativity, illustration, and music [can only be] Yellow Submarine directed by George Dunning, produced by Al Brodax, Story by Lee Minoff, Art Direction by Heinz Edelmann, [and] based on the song of the same name by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.” The movie stands as a huge inspiration for her, and since it is based on The Beatles with their songs, only has Emi adoring it more. The experience with the picture repeatedly “kindles [her] aesthetic and motivation to create . . . [because of] how much it means to [her].”

Interestingly, Emi possesses the uncanny fan-ability of quoting the object of the fanatics. In this case, Yellow Submarine, complete with “accents . . . tones . . . and everything.” Oh, yes, being a dedicated fan can definitely come in handy, if you become creative with your resources. Emi even confessed that, for the previous semester, she wrote a final paper of hers (AKA the grade-that’s-most-likely-to-be-OP for a college-level course) centered on the film.

I pulled a similar power move with Studio Ghibli films for a Linguistics class. But that is a story for another time.

Future Projects

For now, Emi is focused on improvement with lots of practice and taking time for herself. Toon Boom is an animating and storyboarding software that she uses for 2D animation. Besides working with the software, she has a plethora of other outlets to utilize.

As previously mentioned, this young lady is concentrating on her senior thesis to rightfully obtain her hard-earned degree. This summer, Emi managed to actively participate with multiple zines as both a writer and an artist in order to remain imaginatively occupied. There is also her summer internship position, where she works on storyboards and animatics for a production company called O.T.O TV.

If you are intrigued to know more about the company, check their social media links down below!

· Twitter

· Facebook

· Instagram

Where To Find You? Support You?

Luckily, Emi can be found on multiple online platforms! There is also the possibility of supporting her creativity by visiting her online shop or even submitting a commission. Don’t hesitate to ask her more about it!

Social Media

o Tumblr

For her original story and characters!

o Instagram

o Twitter

Portfolio Website

Various ways to support Emi!

o Commission Information

o Ko-fi

o Tictail Store

Last Tidbits

There are a few random things to know about Emi. To start, she is right handed and a Pisces! Her favorite food is any form of a potato. She listens to music every day in order to improve her groove. Her favorite Beatle is Paul McCartney and her favorite Disney film is Beauty and the Beast.

Emily then concluded our interview with a message to all of you lovely readers, “I wish you all a lovely day. Thank you for taking time to read up a little bit about me, my life, and my passions. Your support means the world to me.”

Important Notice

Please understand that some information will not be shared by the creator’s request. If you cannot understand that, there is not much more I can do to help you. Safety is a top priority here, and I am here to help the creators, not instigate negative behavior.

Collaboration Disclaimer

The information provided in my Featured Creator articles is, in fact, from the real people, not some random Internet bot. I do not use random stock photos to fill an imaginary photo quota. Any photos in the Featured Creator segment are provided by the creators with permission to use them in this manner. I want to support the original person behind the work, not a random online copycat creeping around.

To Emi,

I honestly can’t remember how I found you on Tumblr, but I am so happy I did. Not only are you a hilarious young lady, you also are creative and insightful. I am not much older than you, and yet we will be both getting our respective degrees with the completion of the following school year. Most of the other creators I’ve worked with before were, for the most part, already out of school and being full-blown adults. So that was definitely a nice change of scenery I did not expect.

As a fan of both your writing and art, I was really excited to work with you on this collaboration! Despite the problems we’ve encountered across this little project, please know that I don’t make a habit of it. Truly! I had a lot of fun working on this. I hope that happiness shines through somewhere in all of this.

I wish you luck with your final year of school and I can’t wait to work with you again on a different project (if you’re interested, of course)!

Sincerely,

Jasmine Love

MLA Citation (8th edition)

Emi. Personal E-mail Interview by Jasmine Love. July 2018 Featured Creator Collaboration, 18 June – 5 July 2018.

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thedaughterofkings · 6 years

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the one I want

Finished for Sterekweek ‘17 Days Four and Five: Mates and Lyrics&Quotes, though it was originally started for Solstice, the Sterek charity zine! Check it out, preorders start in November and you don’t want to miss that!

I ended up submitting another fic for the zine, so now you get to enjoy 2.1k of a soulmate AU with soulsongs!

We’re soaring, flying, there’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach…

“If we’re trying, so we’re breaking free,” Derek sings under his breath while brushing his teeth and chokes on his toothpaste when Laura suddenly speaks up behind him:

“High School Musical? Really, little bro?”

“Shut up, Laura,” Derek croaks and slams the door in her face.

His soulmate is either a twelve year old girl or hates him. They’ve been singing nothing but High School Musical for days and Derek is going out of his mind. Sure, his mum gets misty eyed whenever he starts singing, talking about “soul songs” and how lucky he is to have a soulmate close enough to hear his heart song, but Derek has some serious doubts about this soulmate business if it makes him belt out Get’cha Head in the Game in the middle of the basketball court. How strong the urge is to sing along with your soulmate out loud supposedly depends on how close you are to them, but Derek couldn’t find anyone who looked like they were currently singing High School Musical in the crowd, so not even embarrassing himself in front of most of the school got him any closer to finding out who his soulmate is.

Derek wants to find them so he can wring their neck, not because he’s “secretly a romantic marshmallow at heart”, no matter what Laura says.

Until he can get his revenge in person, though, he’s going to put on some speed metal on the way to school and yell along in the car. If there’s any good in the world his soulmate will be taking the bus to school and be forced to screech along with him.

Derek never claimed to be a good person and he’s getting really fed up with High School Musical.

~*~

Hey, I just met you and this is crazy...

“But here’s my number, so call me maybe,” Derek says through clenched teeth and the barista laughs at him.

“I don’t go for jailbait, kid, but here’s your coffee and call me maybe in five years,” he says and Derek snatches his coffee and hurries out of the café with his face burning hotly.

This stupid song has been stuck in his head for weeks, thanks to everyone and their mother - including his soulmate - singing it. Mostly Derek has been able to ignore the urge to sing along - other than proximity, enthusiasm is the most important factor when it comes to soulsongs. If you just hum a song under your breath, your soulmate probably won’t even hear it. If you sing along to something on the radio and are separated by a couple of blocks, your soulmate is probably going to hear it and be filled with a slight urge to sing along, but that urge is nothing you can’t resist. But just as the urge gets stronger the closer two soulmates are, it also grows with the enthusiasm of the singer. So for Derek not being able to resist the push of the soulsong, his soulmate has to be either around the corner or belting out Carly Rae Jepsen as if his life depends on it.

Yes, his. Derek can’t know for sure until he meets him, but occasionally he can hear an actual voice singing their soulsong and he’s pretty sure it’s male. Laura’s romance novels - which Derek reads for research, really! - always read that as a sign for an especially strong connection, but Derek isn’t sure how reliable they really are. An awful lot of Lairds and Ladies discover that their soulmate has been the stable boy all along in those novels, and that just doesn’t seem statistically probable. But still, Derek’s soulmate is almost definitely male and quite probably near him singing Carly Rae Jepsen.

So Derek quickly looks around to make sure no one is near him and then starts singing himself:

“Shut up, just shut up, shut up!”

Singing a Black Eyed Peas song that will have him declare himself “crazayyyyy for tryin’ to be your ladyyyy” in just a few lines might not be the best choice, but Derek hopes that it’ll get his opinion on Carly Rae Jepsen’s telephone struggles across nevertheless.

~*~

Would you know my name, if I saw you in heaven. Will it be the same, if I saw you in heaven …

Derek bites his lip and looks around automatically, hoping to see someone singing Eric Clapton, but everyone seems to be deep in conversation with someone else. Out of the corner of his eye he thinks he sees one of Cora’s classmates leave the cafeteria, but he’s gone too quickly for Derek to check whether he might have been singing.

His soulmate had sounded so sad and while he’s mostly been a giant pain in Derek’s ass so far, he feels as though he has to do something to help. That’s hard to do without knowing what’s wrong, though, or even what’s wrong with whom, as he’s still no closer to finding out who his soulmate is. There’s no way to comfort his soulmate physically, but there’s one thing Derek can do:

“Don't give up 'Cause you have friends. Don't give up You're not beaten yet. Don't give up I know you can make it good.”

~*~

Took her bowling in the arcade We went strolling, drank lemonade...

Laura has declared the week ‘Grease week’ and it’s all they’ve been watching and listening to for three days and Derek doesn’t even mind. Summer Nights in particular has been stuck in his head and he’s singing it under his breath on his cooling down walk home after his daily run through the preserve. As he’s alone he’s doing both parts to the best of his ability, but when he sings the next lines, a different voice answers him.

“We made out under the dock-” Derek sings and the new voice continues:

“- we stayed out 'til ten o'clock. Summer fling, don't mean a thing, But ah, oh, those summer nights.”

Derek whirls around and sees a guy who looks vaguely familiar. He’s got messy brown hair, laughing light brown eyes, and dark moles scattered all over his pale skin. Derek is pretty sure he’s one of Cora’s classmates. He thinks he knows him actually - it’s Sheriff Stilinski’s son, if Derek is not mistaken, Stiles.

“Dude, Grease!” Stiles says, grinning widely, and Derek automatically retorts: “Don’t call me ‘Dude’.”

“What should I call you then?” Stiles asks, unperturbed, and Derek suddenly develops a coughing fit because - was that flirting? It’s not unheard of - they are not the Victorians after all, obsessed with keeping all contact between anyone but mates or family to a very decorous minimum. There’s no guarantee to hear your soulsong and find your soulmate, so of course people flirt, hoping to find a partner nevertheless. But Derek has been hearing his soulsong for most of his life, and it just hadn’t felt right to go look for anyone but his soulmate. So he’d just awkwardly glowered whenever someone had tried to approach him and eventually people stopped trying. But that means his first hand knowledge of flirting comes from Laura’s romance novels and again, Lairds and Ladies are not the most realistic example to model your experiences on. So Derek just offers his names slightly hesitantly:

“Derek? I mean, I’m Derek, Derek Hale.”

“Oh, you are Cora’s brother!” Stiles exclaims and sticks his hand out for a fist bump that Derek returns, increasingly bewildered. “I’m Stiles, Stiles Stilinski, and we should totally sing Grease together!”

Derek manages to hold back the automatic “I know” in reaction to Stiles offering his name, but instead he blurts: “We should?” which really isn’t much smoother.

“Yes, we should!” Stiles insist and starts: “Summer lovin’ had me a blast-”

He looks at Derek expectantly and Derek just can’t resist those puppy dog eyes (and the insistent voice in the back of his head saying how familiar Stiles’ voice sounds despite Derek never having heard it before): “Summer lovin’, happened so fast-”

Stiles cheers and continues with a wink: “I met a boy crazy for me-”

Derek can feel his cheeks growing hot and his voice is slightly hoarse on the next line: “I met a boy, cute as can be-”

This time it’s Stiles’ turn to blush and duck his head and Derek’s voice comes steadier again as they join up on the next lines:

Summer days driftin' away, To uh - oh those summer nights…

~*~

I'm walking on sunshine (Wow!) And don't it feel good!

“So happy, dear bro?” Laura sticks her head into Derek’s room with a grin and laughs when Derek falls off his bed. He’d been jumping around and singing along with his soulmate until Laura interrupted him and not even lying on his back like a turtle can wipe the grin off his face. His soulmate has been happy, happier than happy, singing joyful songs in a voice that is feeling more familiar every day.

Derek has been spending more time with Stiles lately, Stiles joining him on his daily runs regularly, but also seeking out Derek in school for lunch or in between classes. He is always singing, an eclectic mix of Disney songs and eighties power ballads and whatever's top of the charts right now. Derek mostly rolls his eyes at Stiles’ antics (it comes without saying that Stiles’ renditions always have to include a full blown choreography), but sometimes he retaliates with musical theatre, symphonic metal, and on one very memorable occasion with a perfect rendition of the fresh Prince of Bel Air.

That night his soulsong is full of kings and princes and thrones and “chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool” and Derek just knows who his soulmate is, but at the same time he doesn’t know. Not for sure. It might all still be a remarkable coincidence. Not very likely, but possible and Derek can’t take the chance. So he’s going to - as Laura likes to tell him - put on his big boy pants and sing his soulsong and hope it’ll be answered. Tomorrow. Tonight he’s going to sing happy songs in his room and hope his soulmate hears them, too.

Because I’m happy …

~*~

I got chills they're multiplying And I'm losing control 'Cause the power you're supplying It's electrifying…

Derek is in the forest, waiting for Stiles, and singing his soulsong. There’s a difference between simply singing and singing your soulsong. The latter depends on intent and belief and hope. The intent to promise yourself to another, the belief that you’ve found them, and the hope that they feel the same. Singing your soulsong gives your soulmate a choice: to accept or to reject - but ignoring it is not an option. So Derek hopes to hear his soulsong returned - by Stiles of course.

“You better shape up, 'cause I need a man And my heart is set on you You better shape up, you better understand To my heart I must be true-”

Stiles does not just sing the next lines - Stiles does all the jumps and twirls and shimmies Sandy does and even a cops a feel. There’s a pronounced blush on his cheeks, but it seems to have been caused by delight rather than anger, and Derek feels the ball of icy anxiety in his belly melt. His soulmate is Stiles, that much is clear, the only thing that remains in question is what Stiles’ answer is going to be. But Derek has a hunch what it might be:

“Nothing left, nothing left for me to do-”

Stiles winks and sings one last line:

“You're the one that I want!”

Then he throws himself at Derek in an exuberant hug that sends them both to the forest floor. The impact knocks the breath out of Derek but Stiles’ face close to his, bright with joy and framed by leaves caught in his hair, more than makes up for it. Stiles settles in more comfortably on top of Derek and grins down at him. Derek swallows and asks, still slightly breathless:

“Is that your answer?”

Stiles smirks and whispers:

“You are the one I want, Derek Hale.”

And then he ducks his head down for a kiss that first knocks their teeth together painfully, but gentles when Derek curves one hand around the back of Stiles’ head and slightly tugs until their mouths fit together perfectly. Stiles sinks more heavily into Derek’s embrace and Derek wraps his other arm around Stiles’ waist securely and loses himself in the kiss.

In his head, their soulsong continues:

Oo-oo-oo, honey The one that I want You are the one I want

[my other Sterekweek 2017 fics]

#Sterekweek2017 #sterekmates #stereklyrics3 #Sterek #teen wolf #eternalsterek #haleinski #my fic #my Sterek fic #happy reading!#my Sterekweek fic

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ladieszine · 1 year

Text

👑GUEST ARTIST ANNOUNCEMENT👑

🪄 Our next Royal guest is… @littlekidsin !

Royal scroll:“ Hi there~ My name is Claudia! I'm an independent illustrator/animator from New Zealand I draw a lot of fanart, play video games, and have a bunch of craft hobbies that I've never started. I also love gators."

👑 @Littlekidsin 's favorite lady is... MULAN!

"Defying the laws of her time and facing mortal danger to protect her father. Her love and bravery knows no bounds!"

Don’t forget to apply! Our apps are still open! [´･ｪ･`]

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yamino · 3 years

Note

I got the Elsa zine its so cute! Will it go on long enough to fit Azula in there?

Thank you so much!

How long I keep adding illustrations depends on how popular the zine is. I promised to draw a new illustration for every 100 purchases, and we are soon approaching the second milestone!

I am trying to keep the kisses specifically to Disney animated ladies, but if there is enough interest and support I would consider doing a sequel zine that expands the kisses to Marvel, Pixar, and perhaps misc. other ladies as well. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I would love it if I could draw lots more ladies getting to kiss Elsa. 💕

#elsa likes girls

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sci-fantasy · 7 years

Text

The Annotated “Playback”

Tomorrow, Friday October 20, begins OVFF 33, the annual Ohio Valley Filk Fest, the biggest filk convention (certainly in stature; probably in people too?).

I am thus pleased to announce that after months of on-again-off-again work, and the assistance of several friends including @animatedamerican and @jchance4d4, I have finished the project envisioned here, and annotated all of the references in Andrew Ross’s “Playback.”

(Well, as much as I could. One or two were not identifiable fully.)

A lot of people commented approving of this idea when @seananmcguire reblogged this, so I hope you see the fruits of our labor.

Song above the cut; references below.

“Playback” to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” filk lyrics by Andrew Ross

Mary Shelley, HG Wells, people meeting at hotels Rudyard Kipling, people singing ditties at the bar Gilbert, Sullivan, rounds of Young Man Mulligan Poul and Karen Anderson, songs in Key of R Martha Keller, Tolkein, songs of worlds as yet unseen TH White’s Arthurians, Frederick Pohl’s Futurians Tom Lehrer, Mondegreens, Slan Shacks, fanzines Music circles, Reprints, Jacobs has a misprint! We shouted “MacIntyre!” It’s our cry of battle for the Old Dun Cattle We shouted “MacIntyre!” And we haven’t parted since the circle started Amazing Stories Annuals, Pelz’s Filksong Manuals Dr. Demento tunes, Callahan’s Crosstime Saloons Hope Eyrie, Leslie Fish, bounced potatoes off the dish Robert Aspirin, Gwen Zak, Dawson’s Christian, Captain Jack Off Centaur, Teri Lee, making love in zero-G Filthy Pierre, Longcor, black market Tullamore Juanita Coulson, Red Lions, badges marked with Dandelions Dorsai have a Fan Club! Jello in the bathtub! Don’t set the cat on fire It will only fight it if you try to light it Don’t set the cat on fire And we haven’t parted since the circle started Peter Beagle, Consonance, chili cursed with sentience HOPSFA, NESFA, ConChord, and the Pegasus Award PFNEN, Ose, Amway, Talk Like a Pirate Day Dandelion Digitals, Julia Ecklar and the gulls Bob Laurent, Asimov, Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff Rocky Horror Muppet Shows, Frank Hayes feeling indisposed Bill Sutton DIY, Marischiello goodbye Challenger! Final tour! What else must we all endure? We saw the sky on fire While the world was staring, we were Jordin Karing We saw the sky on fire And we haven’t parted since the circle started Kathy Mar, Next Gen, Tullamore is back again Steve Macdonald, Elfquest, Interfilk funds a guest Tom Smith, 307 Ale, Lee Gold, Heather Dale Phoenyx, Keepers of the Flame, Filkontario’s Hall of Fame Echo’s Children, Bab-5, need a fool to feed the drive Hamlet done by John Woo, Marilisa Valtazanou GaFilk, Urban Tapestry, lives rich in fantasy Airwalls down at Orycon! Firebells at Baycon! We didn’t start a fire We were all but deafened, and began Kanefin’ We didn’t start a fire And we haven’t parted since the circle started Blake Hodgetts, Proteins, Vixy, Tony, Thirteen Stone Dragons, Moxie, Zander, Heather into Alexander Bill and Gretchen, dead mouse, alligators in the house ConFlikt, Judi Filksign, Tragedy at East Hill Mine Mary Crowell, Faerieworlds, brony boys and Wicked Girls Britain’s Talis Kimberly, Seanan’s Kellis-Amberlee Doubleclicks! Browncoats! Cats! FuMP! Toy Boat! Release the Cello! Sasquon! Thor! Pass another Tullamore! We didn’t start the choir It’s been so cathartic for the longest bardic We didn’t start the choir But when our turns have gone, it will still go on and on until the dawn…

Mary Shelley: As in, the writer of the first science fiction novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.

HG Wells: Wrote The Time Machine and War of the Worlds and, along with Jules Verne, is considered one of the fathers of science fiction by people who don’t count Mary. (Jules pioneered “hard” SF, where he justified as much as he could with science; HG was busy making social metaphors.)

People meeting at hotels: AKA “conventions.” The first SF con was (debatably) Philcon in 1936, when ten people from the New York SF club went down to Philly to meet those guys. They called it a convention because the Democratic and Republican National Conventions had both been in Philly earlier that year, so it was a joke, see. The first World Science Fiction Convention was in New York in 1939.

Rudyard Kipling: English poet and journalist, famously a representation of British imperialism, but a lot of his stuff got set to music by Leslie Fish (for whom see more later).

People singing ditties at the bar: AKA filk. Or karaoke. Or any other sort of thing that happens when people who sing are near people who sing.

Gilbert, Sullivan: Light operettists famous for patter. They get refilked a lot.

Rounds of Young Man Mulligan: "Old Man Mulligan” was a 1940 story from Astounding Science Fiction by P. Schuyler Miller; as far as I can tell it was a pretty standard adventure story but it featured the titular Old Man who’d been around forever. “Young Man Mulligan” is an SFnal version of "The Great Historical Bum” (aka “I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago” or “The Bragging Song”; lyrics here); it opens “I was born about ten thousand years from now,” so you can see how it’ll go from that. It was one of the original “everybody keeps writing new verses” songs; Bruce Pelz published almost 70 in an early filkbook and many many more have been written since. (The Pelz lyrics do not appear to be available online.)

Poul and Karen Anderson: Poul was a Golden Age writing legend, one of the Grand Masters of SFWA, maybe one rung down from Asimov and Heinlein (maybe). Karen, his widow and sometimes co-writer, is among many other significant things the first person to deliberately use the term “filk music” in print. They both wrote their fair share of filk, and were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2003.

Songs in the Key of R: Another way to say “off key.” See this folk song (lyrics here) of...disputed provenance (I have found a few different claims of authorship).

Martha Keller: Poet and balladeer, born 1902, died 1971. A number of her poems from Brady’s Bend and Other Ballads were put to music by Juanita Coulson (see below) in 1984 on “Rifles & Rhymes” by Off Centaur Publications (see below).

Tolkien: Do I really need to? Fine. Wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and basically created the modern fantasy genre on accident while he was busy with constructed languages and mythologies.

Songs of worlds as yet unseen: AKA “filk.” See also “Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain’t Even Been Yet,” by Leslie Fish (see below), which was the first commercially published filk album.

TH White’s Arthurians: White’s The Once and Future King is a distillation and to some extent modernization of the King Arthur legend; the first part was The Sword in the Stone and yes, that’s what the Disney movie was adapted from. And yes, there have been plenty of Arthurian filk songs over the years.

Frederick Pohl’s Futurians: An early group of SF fans, specifically New York area fans (several of them were part of the 1936 Philcon mentioned above). Famously, several politically-minded Futurians were arguably-banned (whether it was really a “ban” still gets debated today) from the first Worldcon in ‘39 for handing out political flyers; Pohl was one of those.

Tom Lehrer: He’s a retired mathematics professor who “hangs out” at UC Santa Cruz, but in the ‘50s-’60s he was an active mathematics professor and also a fairly popular political satirist. Despite having no love for folk music (see his songs “The Folk Song Army,” lyrics here, and even moreso “The Irish Ballad,” lyrics here, wherein he calls the folk song “the particular form of permissible idiocy of the intellectual fringe”), his stuff gets sung a lot in filk circles.

Mondegreens: Misheard lyrics, like the famous “‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy” (for “Kiss the Sky,” by Jimi Hendrix). Named by Sylvia Wright in 1954 after her own mishearing of the ballad “The Bonnie Earl o’Moray; the line was “They hae slain the Earl o' Moray/And laid him on the green,” and she heard “and Lady Mondegreen.” The term caught on, and it and/or some individual mondegreens have been the inspiration for no small number of filk songs and at least one filk band.

Slan Shacks: Early term for an SF clubhouse or house filled with fans; named for A.E. van Vogt’s 1940 novel Slan which was an early version of the persecuted-superior-race-of-beings story (think X-Men). Fans in the ‘40s-50s picked up the phrase “Fans are Slans” in yet another example of the weird ostracism/superiority cycle that pervades fandom to this day.

Fanzines: The internet before the internet. When fans wanted to communicate over long distances and all they had was printed paper, they printed papers. They made little bound fan-made magazines (hence, fanzines, or just zines) of their songs, stories, jokes, and opinions and mailed them to each other. A lot of early filk was in the pages of fanzines.

Music circles: How filk typically happens--people sit in a circle and sing. They usually take turns. See below for “bardic” and “chaos.”

Reprints: Printings again. A lot of filk didn’t necessarily get them, but some did, including some early albums, some early filkbooks like the NESFA Hymnal, see below, or the Westerfilk Collection.

Jacobs has a misprint!: While Karen Anderson (see above) was the first person to deliberately use the word “filk” in print, the first use of the word at all was a typo in Lee Jacobs’s essay, which ended up being called “The Influence of Science Fiction on Modern American Filk Music.” It spread in conversation as a funny typo for a while before Karen fixed it in a tangible medium of expression.

We shouted “MacIntyre!” (and the rest of that chorus): “When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire” or “The Old Dun Cow” or “Macintyre!” is a very classic music hall song (written 1893) that gets performed by basically every folk or filk group that aims for that “British Isles drinking song” feel. See here for pedigree, lyrics, and recording.

Amazing Stories Annuals: In 1927, Hugo Gernsback published Amazing Stories Annual, a pulp magazine of “scientifiction” (the term “science fiction” hadn’t been coined yet). It sold so well he made it quarterly almost immediately; he lost the rights a few years later and the magazine ended up falling to the 800-pound gorilla that was Astounding Science Fiction. But it was arguably where all this started.

Pelz’s Filksong Manuals: Bruce Pelz, a legend of California fandom, was among other things one of the first creators of bound, organized, and published filkbooks (complete with sheet music!), which were titled the Filksong Manuals. (He’s mentioned under the “Young Man Mulligan” entry; it was one of the Manuals that had those 70ish verses to “Mulligan.”) Pelz was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame posthumously in 2007.

Dr. Demento tunes: Barry Hansen, AKA “Dr. Demento,” was a DJ in 1970 when he realized that “novelty” tunes lit up the phone banks more than rock and roll, and created the “Dr. Demento” persona for a syndicated radio show of novelty, comedy, and otherwise unusual music. It was on the radio weekly until 2010 and is now produced weekly online. He’s played a fair amount of filk over the years, reintroduced Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, and Spike Jones to a grateful world, and both inspired and launched “Weird Al” Yankovic’s career.

Callahan’s Crosstime Saloons: Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson and the various “Callahan’s Place” stories that followed had more than a few filk songs among the lyrics (Robinson is a songwriter himself), and at one point a couple of filkers (Jordin and Mary Kay Kare, see below) appear as characters to sing their filk song about Callahan’s.

Hope Eyrie: Listen here. Considered by many to be the “anthem” of filk, or possibly of science fiction fandom (inasmuch as it’s possible). Written by…

Leslie Fish: One of the most significant filkers in history; not only did she write “Hope Eyrie,” she also wrote the infamous-beyond-infamy “Banned from Argo,” created the subgenre of “Kipplefish” by setting Rudyard Kipling’s (see above) poetry to music, had the first commercial filk album (see above), helped to popularize filk music, wrote some of the earliest Kirk/Spock slash fiction...she’s pretty important, is what I’m saying. When the Filk Hall of Fame was founded in 1995, she was one of the first three inductees.

Bounced potatoes off the dish: At Westercon XIX in San Diego in 1966, the hotel was legendarily bad. Most notably, the Guest of Honor banquet featured completely inedible food, prompting Poul Anderson (see above) to set a filk to the tune of “Waltzing Matilda,” entitled “Bouncing Potatoes.”

Robert Aspirin: SF writer active from the late 70s until his death in 2008, Bob was also the founder of the Dorsai Irregulars (see below), and one of the people who brought early filk from private hotel rooms into public spaces, by (among others) holding a bit all-night filksing in celebration of the Irregulars’ formation in 1974. He was another of the first Filk Hall of Fame inductees in 1995.

Gwen Zak: One of the more spiritually-focused filkers, Gwen is a Pegasus Award (see below) winner for “Circles” and nominee for “I Am Lord” (cowritten with Leslie Fish).

Dawson’s Christian: A filksong by Duane Elms, written 1987, about a ghost ship. It’s been refilked more than a few times itself, including “Dawson’s Concom” (where it’s about ghost...convention runners).

Captain Jack: Not Pirates (probably), not Torchwood (probably), but the titular character of Meg Davis’s 1975 song “Captain Jack and the Mermaid.”

Off Centaur: The first filk music publishing house, Off Centaur Publications produced much of the early commercially-released filk albums, thus making filk available outside of a convention/fandom setting for the first time. They were the third of the three initial 1995 inductees into the Filk Hall of Fame. OCP was founded by Jordin Kare, Catherine Cook, and...

Teri Lee: Who went on to found Firebird Arts & Music, one of the more active filk publishers working today.

Making love in zero-G: A recurring topic in filk songs, including “Home on LaGrange,” and most notably, “A Reconsideration Of Anatomical Docking Maneuvers In A Zero-Gravity Environment, or The Zero-G Sex Song,” the latter being the most direct reference given its first line.

Filthy Pierre: Erwin “Filthy Pierre” Strauss was one of the prime movers in early filk on the East Coast of the US in the 1970s, creating some of the first songbooks, lists of top songs to know, and a lot of filk evangelism. To this day his melodica is a recurring feature at larger East Coast and world-level conventions. Pierre was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1998.

Longcor: Michael “Moonwulf” Longcor has been a major figure in Midwestern filk since the 1970s; he has no fewer than ten published music albums, was twice King of the Middle Kingdom of the SCA, and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2014.

Black market Tullamore: Tullamore Dew, a brand of Irish whiskey, was Bob Asprin’s preferred drink (because it was cheap, or so the story goes), a preference that he passed on to the Dorsai Irregulars and filk community both. “Tully” is a commonly mentioned in songs about the DI, about filk itself, or about alcohol.

Juanita Coulson: Filker since the 1950s and still going strong, Juanita was one of the earliest filk encouragers, welcoming and encouraging new people to filk circles. She had several early OCP albums, brought Martha Keller’s (see above) poetry to the attention of many filkers, and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1996.

Red Lions: Red Lion Hotels (now bought and owned by Doubletree) were the sites of many filk conventions, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

Badges marked with Dandelions: Kathy Mar (see below) and Lindy Sears founded the “Dandelion Conspiracy” to encourage general SF conventions to be filk-friendly and to push back against the somewhat unsavory reputation of filkers among conrunners. In Kathy’s words: “In taking the dandelion as the filker's symbol, I hope to convey, as gently as the flower-power movement did, that filk is almost impossible to root out. If disturbed, it tends to proliferate. It can be beneficial at times, and it can even be beautiful in spite of its weedy reputation.”

Dorsai have a Fan Club!: At the Worldcon in Toronto in 1973, various security-type duties were the purview of local rent-a-cops, who...did not mesh well with fan culture, and more critically, did not understand fan valuation. This especially manifested in their Art Show duties; a very valuable Kelly Freas painting was swiped from the show because the rent-a-cop checking receipts didn’t know enough about the painting to realize that the receipt he was being shown did not nearly cover the value of the painting the thief was claiming to have bought. Bob Aspirin (see above) decided that Something Must Be Done, and formed an organization by fans, for fans, and of fans to do various convention-running duties on a by-contract basis. He named them the Dorsai Irregulars, a reference to the Childe Cycle of boks by Gordon R. Dickson about a planet of mercenaries, the Dorsai. (The joke being, if the “regular” Dorsai were off fighting in battles, doing con security was definitely a job for the “Irregular” Dorsai.) As mentioned above, the celebration of the Dorsai’s establishment was a watershed moment for filk, and to this day many Dorsai veterans are Midwestern filkers and vice versa.

Jello in the bathtub!: At the 1974 Worldcon in DC, Joe Haldeman (presumably, hopefully, jokingly) remarked that his ultimate sexual fantasy involved a bathtub full of green jello. By the end of the con, his bathtub had been jello-ed, with a couple of naked girls for, ahem, flavor. (Or perhaps texture.) The incident got inevitably filked about, though not many of those appear to be available online.

Don’t set the cat on fire (and the rest of the chorus): A four-line version of Frank Hayes’s (see below) “Never Set the Cat on Fire” (lyrics here).

Peter Beagle: Writer of The Last Unicorn (novel and screenplay) and numerous other works; also a filker himself, with an album (cassette, of course) of his live performance at Baycon 1986.

Consonance: Bay Area filk convention since at least 1992, probably longer.

Chili cursed with sentience: Beware of the Sentient Chili by Chris Weber (lyrics here).

HOPSFA: The Johns Hopkins SF club. They put out a filkbook, the HOPSFA Hymnal, in the 70s.

NESFA: The New England Science Fiction Association. They put out the NESFA Hymnal in the 70s, too.

ConChord: A filk convention held in the LA area starting in the early 80s, and closing its doors in the 2010s due to low attendance.

The Pegasus Award: The main community award (think the Hugo Award equivalent) for filkers, given out annually at the Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OVFF) every fall since the late ‘80s.

PFNEN: A fanzine (see above) called Philk-Fee-Nom-Ee-Nom, published by Paul Willett in the ‘80s. It was nominated for a Hugo in 1984.

Ose: A common musical style of filk, for sad, depressing stuff. The joke being it’s “ose, ose, and more ose!” (As in, “morose.”) Since a lot of the folk music tradition is similarly depressing, it was inevitable.

Amway: OK, I’ll admit, I’m not 100% on this one. I suspect it’s how “Amway salesman” could be considered one of the most mundane of mundanities, as in Roberta Rogow’s song “A Use for ‘Argo,’” but that’s all I got.

Talk Like a Pirate Day: The “holiday” on September 19 every year, wherein people, well, talk like pirates. Tom Smith, see below, wrote the official Talk Like a Pirate Day Song in 2003 see here.

Dandelion Digitals: Since the Dandelion Conspiracy (see above) was a thing, it’s no shock that a label called Dandelion Digital would spring up. They put out some of the first filk CDs in the ‘90s.

Julia Ecklar and the gulls: Julia Ecklar is a very well-known filker, one of Off Centaur’s (see above) most prolific artists; she has nine Pegasus Awards (see above) and also won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1991. By all accounts, she has a fondness for birds--if I’m reading this right she works at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. Beyond that, I’m not sure about the gulls.

Bob Laurent: Californian filker and fan; he founded Wail Songs in the ‘80s to distribute tapes of live convention recordings, and also founded Consonance (see above) and Interfilk (see below). He was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1996.

Asimov: Isaac Asimov, to be precise, one of the Golden Age of Science Fiction’s most famous writers. He didn’t coin the word “robot” but you’d believe he had. He also, inevitably, wrote a couple of filksongs himself back in the day.

Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff: Californian musicians and filkers with a half dozen albums (see here), a recording setup to help other filkers record quality albums, a couple of Pegasus Awards--and Maya’s an SF writer in her own right with an impressively long bibliography.

Rocky Horror Muppet Shows: There really are no words. Just a link. Written by Tom Smith (see below) and performed a couple of time, originally in 1987 and twice more in the 2010s

Frank Hayes feeling indisposed: Frank Hayes is yet another leading light of filk. He wrote the infectiously upbeat “Never Set the Cat on Fire” (see above) as well as many other songs, but he’s most known for Frank Hayes Disease: that is, forgetting his words. And causing other filkers to forget theirs. (It’s been known to happen that someone will borrow his guitar and suddenly forget lyrics they’ve had cold for decades.) Frank was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2009 and is married to Teri Lee (see above).

Bill Sutton DIY: Bill Sutton is a filker from Indiana; he and his wife Brenda have a couple of albums. Bill’s most famous song is “Do It Yourself,” which he describes as “a vintage song about vintage computing.” (“You can build a mainframe from the things you find at home,” it proclaims.)

Marischiello goodbye: Bill Marischiello was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1996...but had died in 1986. (I’m sure it’s this because this is chronological, as see…)

Challenger!: Space Shuttle Challenger, as you’re probably aware, broke apart on liftoff in January 1986. The song “Fire in the Sky” by Jordin Kare (see below) is largely about that and the other successes and failures of the Space Program.

Final tour! What else must we all endure?: This reads like fluff that rhymes, to me.

We saw the sky on fire (and the rest of the chorus): As mentioned above, this is all based on Jordin Kare’s “Fire in the Sky.” (Link is to the version on the album To Touch the Stars.)

Kathy Mar: Cofounder of the Dandelion Conspiracy (see above), part of the second annual induction into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1996, winner of seven Pegasus Awards, and yet another of Those Names.

Next Gen: As established, this is chronological, so we’re into the late ‘80s. Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in 1987.

Tullamore is back again: I can’t find confirmation of this, but I seem to recall hearing that Tully was hard to find for a few years in the ‘80s thanks to the Troubles.

Steve Macdonald: “Smac,” as he is affectionately known, is a member of the Dorsai Irregulars (see above), a 2006 inductee in the Filk Hall of Fame, winner of six Pegasus Awards, once administrator of the same to great effect, and is known as Gallamor the Bard at Renaissance Faires.

Elfquest: The legendary long-running comic book fantasy epic is one of those properties that filkers seem to really be fond of. There’s been an album of Elfquest filk, a songbook of filk about Elfquest, and, well, see for yourself.

Interfilk funds a guest: Interfilk, founded in 1992, is an organization dedicated to the cross-pollenation of filk, by paying to send filkers to conventions in other regions. They are a registered nonprofit, and most filk cons do an auction of donated goods (rare music, songbooks, knick-knacks, food, drink…) to raise money.

Tom Smith: The World’s Fastest Filker, fourteen-time Pegasus Award winner (and 34-time nominee), 2005 inductee into the Filk Hall of Fame. Along with “Rocket Ride,” his paean to the Golden Age of Science Fiction, his most famous song is...

307 Ale: ...the story of a few MIT geeks who managed to brew beer inside of a tesseract and got a liquid that’s 153.5% alcohol--that is, it has a proof of 307. (He saw 307 ALE on a license plate and ran with it.)

Lee Gold: California SF fandom, publisher of the filk zine (see above) Xenofilkia since 1988 (and still going). Inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1997 and publisher of several posthumous filk collections (that is, collections of deceased filkers’ work; she’s still alive).

Heather Dale: Filk by way of the SCA, officially a Celtic bard-style performer with something like 20 albums to her name. She’s been at numerous filk conventions, won four Pegasus Awards, been nominated for another four.

Phoenyx, Keepers of the Flame: Celtic fusion rock band Phoenyx, founded by Heather Alexander (see below), had one album, “Keepers of the Flame.” Long out of print.

Filkontario’s Hall of Fame: The Filk Hall of Fame, mentioned extensively here; inductions happen at FilkOntario (FKO), an annual filk con--guess where.

Echo’s Children: Filk duo Echo’s Children, Cat Faber and Callie Hills, four-time nominees for Pegasus Awards for performance; Cat won seven times for writing/composing or individual songs. In addition to several songs about various tabletop RPGs they were in, and a few about other media, a lot of their songs are about…

Bab-5: Babylon 5, the TV show created by J. Michael Straczynski, which was doing long-form arc storytelling in the mid-90s in syndication. Besides Echo’s Children, a few other filkers have done songs about it; Tom Smith (see above) did a whole-show summary to the tune of Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week.”

Need a fool to feed the drive: “Fool to Feed the Drive” by Jordin Kare (see above) is a refilk of “Fuel to Feed the Drive” by Cynthia McQuillin--McQuillin being a multiple-Pegasus award winner herself and 1998 Filk Hall of Fame inductee. “Fuel,” the original, is a sad elegy about a spaceship that runs out of fuel in deep space, doomed. “Fool” points out that fusion drives use water, and humans are mostly water…

Hamlet done by John Woo: Oh, Andrew...this is a bit of self-promotion from the writer of this song, Andrew Ross. Andrew was nominated for a 2011 Pegasus Award for his song “Crispy Danish,” which is, well, a retelling of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark as a John Woo film, set to “Sheep Marketing Ploy” by Tom Smith (see above).

Marilisa Valtazanou: Oh, that’s why--he needed something to rhyme! Marilisa has been nominated for over a dozen Pegasus awards, alone or as part of a group, and helps run the annual UK Filk Convention.

GaFilk: The start of the filking New Year, GAFilk is held the first full weekend of the year in Atlanta, GA (hence the name). One of the more well established filk cons.

Urban Tapestry: Canadian filk trio of Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Allison Durno, and Jodi Krangle; they’ve won two Pegasus Awards and released three albums, and were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2011.

Lives rich in fantasy: “Rich Fantasy Lives,” by Tom Smith (see above) and Rob Balder, is in contention for “Filk anthem” with “Hope Eyrie” (see above) and its ilk. It celebrates the joy of having more worlds than one to visit on occasion. Best sung in a crowd.

Airwalls down at Orycon!: OK, this one I can only go off of what @jenroses said: “The Airwalls at Orycon was one of those legendary disasters that ended up sparking the best filk circle I’ve ever been at.”

Firebells at Baycon!: This one got filked by Bob Kanefsky (see below): it’s the mostly-true story of a massive problem at Baycon in 2002. The fire alarms kept going off. Every five minutes or so.

All night.

We didn’t start a fire (and the rest of that chorus): See above. “Kanefin’” refers to Bob Kanefsky, considered one of the grandmasters of the refilk. 2007 Pegasus Award winner for Writer/Composer and nominee for specific songs, Bob has a legendary habit of taking one song by a singer, and rewriting the lyrics (often to make it another song by that same singer)...and then convincing the original singer to sing the filk--he got verbed. To Kanef is to sing your mashup-filk parody of a specific filker’s work at said filker. He has several albums of just that. One of the greatest parodists in filk.

Blake Hodgetts, Proteins: Filker Blake Hodgetts, two-time Pegasus Award nominee for writing, has a song called “Proteins” which is a sci-fi version of one of those cowboy ballads about a cowboy who meets a Mexican girl, they get together briefly, share no language, spend the night, then they part...in his version, it’s an alien, and our lonely singer remembers too late that biochemistry mismatches can lead to anaphylactic shock...

Vixy, Tony, Thirteen: Filk duo Vixy and Tony from the Pacific Northwest, two-time Pegasus winners; their first album was “Thirteen,” and at time of writing was their only album. (Their second came out in 2016.)

Stone Dragons: Canadian filk duo of Tom and Sue Jeffers. Tom was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2012.

Moxie: Play it with Moxie is the nine-member “house band” at GAFilk (see above), which plays the annual GAFilk Banquet.

NOTE: These next two pieces discuss trans individuals, and use their “deadnames”--the names they went by before transition. In both cases, the individuals are public about their transitions and former names, so I am given to understand that this is not considered a breach of etiquette.

If it is, I apologize and will edit the post.

Zander: Zanda Myrande describes herself as “still recovering from the trauma of being Zander Nyrond for several decades,” but still gives “ house room to Zander and the rest of the deadbeats who populate her head.” Zanda is a UK filker, two-time Pegasus Award winner, and writer of the song that UK filk has claimed as their own anthem, “Sam’s Song.”

Heather into Alexander: Celtic musician and filker Alexander James Adams, the Faerie Tale Minstrel, describes himself as “the Heir to Heather Alexander,” who went to the lands of Faerie (thus invoking the “Changeling Child” tale). He has a handful of Pegasus Awards, and wrote the archetypal song of battle, “March of Cambreadth.”

Bill and Gretchen, dead mouse: Bill and Gretchen Roper, filkers from the Midwest, literally own the domain filker.com. Bill has three Pegasus Awards, one with Gretchen; that one is for “My Husband, the Filker,” and includes a snippet about a dead mouse to the tune of “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

Alligators in the house: Filk about exactly what it sounds like. Written by Betsy Tinney (see below) and performed by Betsy, Alexander James Adams (see above), and S.J. Tucker as Tricky Pixie.

ConFlikt: A relatively new filk convention in the Pacific Northwest, foudned 2007.

Judi Filksign: Judi Miller is a talented filker, singer, and musician in her own right, but is primarily known in filk as an ASL translator. Many filk concerts see her at the side of the stage, signing the songs. She won the Pegasus Award for Best Performer in 2006 and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2007.

Tragedy at East Hill Mine: “The Wreck of the Crash of the Easthill Mining Disaster” by Brooke Abbey (formerly Brooke Lunderville), a Canadian pharmacist and filker.

Mary Crowell: That’s Dr. Mary Crowell to you, punk! Dr. Crowell is a piano, composition, music theory, and music appreciation professor from Alabama, a four-time Pegasus winner (including once with Play It with Moxie, see above) with another dozen-plus nominations, has two albums and major parts on several more, and is one of filk’s roving accompanists; she can provide a piano backing on the fly.

Faerieworlds: A music festival in Oregon, which has featured a number of filk musicians, including S.J. Tucker and Alexander James Adams (see above) both individually and as Tricky Pixie (also see above).

Brony boys: A lot of fandom subcultures develop their own filk; Harry Potter has Wizard Rock, Doctor Who has Time Lord Rock, and yes, My Little Pony has its own filk. (Note: This was written before “Brony” stopped being considered anything except a warning sign of the Sad Puppies and the like. Look that one up yourself if you want, this is long enough as is.)

Wicked Girls: The fourth album of filker and author Seanan McGuire, six-time Pegasus Award winner. Wicked Girls was the first single-artist filk album to be nominated for a Hugo Award (To Touch the Stars, see above, did it earlier but was multi-artist), for Best Related Work in 2012. “Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves,” shortened to “Wicked Girls,” is also the central track of the album.

Britain’s Talis Kimberley: Talis Kimberley, UK filker and activist, has been nominated for 32 Pegasus Awards and won 9, released over a dozen albums, and was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2014.

Seanan’s Kellis-Amberlee: Under her open pseudonym of Mira Grant, Seanan McGuire (see above) wrote the Newsflesh series, in which a manmade virus called Kellis-Amberlee causes zombification upon death. (The similarity to the sound of Talis’s name is a coincidence.)

Doubleclicks: A nerd-rock duo--they they don’t self-identify as filkers, but they’re well regarded and friends with many Pacific Northwest filkers.

Browncoats: The organized fandom for Firefly, densely populated with filkers.

Cats: One of the most common subjects of filksongs that aren’t actually about fantasy or science fiction.

FuMP: The Funny Music Project, a loose affiliation of comedy musicians that has considerable overlap with the filk community (including Tom Smith and the Great Luke Ski, among others).

Toy Boat: Toyboat, a hard-rock filk band from the Midwest.

Release the Cello: An album by filker and cellist Betsy Tinney (see above).

Sasquon: Sasquan, the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention, which was the current con when this song was written.

Thor: The God of Thunder, Mighty Thor! This probably refers more to the Leslie Fish song, though--she was doing that sort of thing before the Marvel Cinematic Universe made that version a household name.

Pass another Tullamore: Tullamore Dew (see above).

for the longest bardic: At filksings, “bardic” refers to a style of turn-taking in which the opportunity to sing and/or play (or, in some variations, request a song of someone else) progresses around the circle in order. This contrasts with “chaotic”, a style in which there are no set turns and anybody can request to perform next.

#filk

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cinemamablog · 4 years

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Children’s Books about Hollywood and Film History

I’ve collected children’s books for Oliver since before I even knew Oliver existed. I saved my own copies of Tomie dePaola’s The Art Lesson and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. I bought used copies of out-of-print childhood favorites, like A Baker’s Portrait by Michelle Edwards. Books were a major part of my childhood. My parents once owned a children’s book store, first in Sioux Falls and later in Sioux City. (I was no intelligentsia though; I also played video games all afternoon and stayed up until 3 AM watching infomercials.) I wanted to give my children that same foundation and love for books, because I’m convinced that strong reading skills can help you in every aspect of your life. (Communication, empathy, problem solving… Those skills apply to pretty much any profession ever.)

Once I gave birth to Oliver last July, I discovered many options for inclusive books about artists and scientists from all different time periods and backgrounds. I struggled to find similar resources for children on film or Hollywood history, though. Movies are such a key component of our household, I worry my kids would be flummoxed by their parents’ passion for film if we don’t teach them some of the basics. I want to write my own children’s book about women in film someday, but in the meantime, I figure if I want Oliver (and soon Ezra) to develop a base knowledge of Hollywood history, I needed to start searching out books about film for children.

I’ve compiled my favorite children’s books about film here, ranging from board books for babies to chapter books for independent readers or reading together. These books cover a variety of topics: animation, performers, Universal Monsters, early Hollywood history, and more. I’ve also embedded links so you can order them online, though I do encourage you to search your public library’s online catalog first (for the Sioux City Public Library, click here) or consider ordering copies from your local bookstore! In Sioux City, Book People is our only independent bookstore and they can order almost anything for you. You can visit them online here or on their Facebook page here.

For itty bitty babies who would rather chew on their books than read them, the pickings are slim but at least you have a couple options. I recommend the “Little Artist” board book set, written by Emily Kleinman and illustrated by Lydia Ortiz. The collection includes four books, each book featuring four artists. Kleinman organizes the artists into these categories: painters, sculptors, musicians, and performers. In the “performers” book, your little one will enjoy bright, vivid, and simple illustrations of Charlie Chaplin and Josephine Baker, accompanied by a simple sentence describing why they matter in art history. (Chaplin for his success in silent film, Baker for her dancing and spy activities.) This series clearly makes an effort to maintain gender balance, featuring two men and two women in every book, and also racially inclusive, featuring at least two people of color in every book. “Little Artists” also earns some bonus points because these books are the perfect size and texture for teething babies.

Another board book option for your tiny baby is the “Little People, Big Dreams” series. The series publishes most of their books in paperback, as well as condensed and simplified board books, so your child can grow with the series. The books focus on a variety of fascinating achievers throughout history, in professions from fashion to science, but your film history choices include personalities like actress Audrey Hepburn, dancer Josephine Baker (there she is again!), and martial artist Bruce Lee. I personally own the Frida Kahlo and Ella Fitzgerald board books from this series and find them engaging and informative without getting too lengthy for a baby.

Moving on to picture books! Both of these books are ideal for reading aloud to your little one, though one is a bit more complex than the other.

Let’s start with the simpler of the two picture books: Mary Blair’s Unique Flair, written by Amy Novesky and illustrated by Brittney Lee. This appropriately colorful book tells the story of Mary Blair’s artistic childhood, and later, her career at Disney. The book takes time to explain how Blair drew inspiration from Latin America and other geographic landscapes, which influenced her concept art for classic movies like Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Mary Blair’s Unique Flair respectfully emulates Blair’s style and celebrates her career and achievements. Blair serves as a positive role model for any young artist.

For a bit heavier of a picture book that tackles identity and gender politics head on, I recommend Hedy Lamarr’s Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor, written by Laurie Wallmark and illustrated by Katy Wu. The book explains to the young reader how Lamarr’s glamorous screen persona and otherworldly good looks actually worked against her inventive ambitions. Lamarr was an amateur scientist and inventor with great ideas, but she had a hard time getting people to take her seriously because of her gender and world-renowned beauty. The government went as far as ignoring her most groundbreaking invention (frequency hopping, the precursor to Wi-Fi) for years and therefore keeping her major contribution to science a secret until the 1950s. This book makes for a brilliant companion to the recent documentary Bombshell: the Hedy Lamarr Story, currently streaming on Netflix. A whole lesson plan can be built around the book and film: you can teach your child(ren) about the scientific method, classic film, and the dangers of judging a book by its cover (or its gender).

For independent readers or for parents wanting to introduce little ones to long-form storytelling, I adore the “Who HQ” series of non-fiction books. The series includes what seems like every topic in history ever, but I especially enjoy their film history books, including Who Was Charlie Chaplin?, Who Was Alfred Hitchcock?, What is the Story of Frankenstein?, and Where is Hollywood? (While the Frankenstein book covers the entire history of Mary Shelley’s story and subsequent cultural impact, it dedicates many pages to the history of the classic Universal Monsters, so I chose to include it in this list.) I appreciate how this series spotlights supporting players in the narrative by providing sidebars for significant persons or events. For instance, the Alfred Hitchcock book dedicates a page to the career of Patricia Highsmith, the writer of the novel that inspired Hitch’s screen adaptation, Strangers on a Train. (I also love how the Hitchcock book stresses the collaborative nature of Hitch’s relationship with his wife, Alma.) Each book in this series provides supplementary materials, like illustrated timelines and bibliographies for further independent research. (A great resource for a research project or just for finding more books to read for fun!)

For parents who enjoy teaching and engaging with your kids at home using multimedia elements, or even for homeschooling families, as your children grow older (I’m thinking toddlers and onward), you can pair most of these books with full films or clips, as I suggested for the Hedy Lamarr picture book. For shorter attention spans, you can watch Josephine Baker dancing the Charleston, Charlie Chaplin short films, Bruce Lee fight scenes, and Audrey Hepburn dance numbers from musicals like My Fair Lady and Funny Face for free on YouTube. You can Google Mary Blair’s concept art together and then watch the resulting films either on Disney+ or through a digital rental. For older children, you can pay $11.99 for a monthly Criterion Channel subscription and dive into entire filmographies after you read about prolific filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, and Carl Laemmle Jr. That’s one nice thing about the Production Code of early Hollywood: most movies are family-appropriate, though you may have to address dated or problematic elements. (Such as the pre-code trope that if a female character makes immoral decisions, she either must repent or die, but usually both.)

I might write a follow-up post as I get introduced to more children’s books about film history. I’m especially interested in finding books for children that describe the inner workings of a movie set. Message me your recommendations! I didn’t learn about how movies are really made until I went to college and fell in love with the art form! It’s never too early or too late to learn something new. I also want to put together a zine to share with my readers, one that serves as a prototype for one of my dream projects, the “Women in Film” book I mentioned earlier in this post. Keep your eyes open and keep reading; your local CineMama has big dreams and you just might watch them come true in this space!

#books #critique

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