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Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

yourlibrarian

4:17p The state of things This NPR story caught my attention in part because they were trying to coin a new phrase – the Wovel – to describe a novel published in installments online, and also because the author was an editor at Dark Horse Comics, so stories by installment should hardly seem like a breakthrough to her. Fanfic and pro novels have been published the same way so I guess the "revolutionary" angle here is the idea of user input, although as one commenter nicely points out, there are quite a few running around LJ. The idea strikes me as just another form of what Fanlib was selling, albeit less corporate. Speaking of Fanlib and its abrupt closure, it's always a wise idea to keep things backed up but I think the idea of LJ having a similarly abrupt demise is unlikely. I'm no expert on how the site is run, but I suspect the problem will come mostly from slower maintenance and a likely stop to further site tweaking. Then again there's always the GJ model of a slow, decaying death. I noticed there haven't been any posts at fandom_flies in some time, but this might be a good time to revive those discussions about long-range plans. While LJ still has some prospects, I think its future is going to be sharply limited by the current economic problems. I don't know how much further the site can be monetized now that 90% or more of journals carry ads and probably anyone who could afford a permanent account has already bought one. The number of paid users has always been tiny, even in its heyday, and the likelihood of finding yet another buyer seems dim. If I were to be optimistic I'd say this was the early 90s period for Apple. The shiny of the Mac had worn off, the resurgence of the iMac was still ahead and the iPod and iPhone rather far off. This comparison came to me because I remember seeing a map of connectivity in the blogosphere, and it was noted that LJ was its own little island (not unlike Mac users pre-Internet). So better things might still be ahead for core users, but chances are it's going to be a long ways off and stagnation is definitely here. The problem of disappearing vids on YouTube (yet again) is a problem when making recs, and it made me think that this post has the right idea. In other copyright news, iTunes songs will finally be as DRM free as those from Amazon, and at least some of its catalog will drop in price. Along with an article about the arrival of TV sets that will connect directly to the Internet and the boom in downloading film and TV content, is the article on Google's open path to provide digital books. Seems to me we're well poised to downsize our living spaces since we no longer will need storage for all those books, DVDs, and CDs, huh? It's kind of interesting to look around and realize a lot of what's still on my shelves in my apartment are outdated technologies I'm still carting around with me. Lastly, let's hear it for the Brits.

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Sunday, January 4th, 2009

yourlibrarian

3:56p SPN Vid Recs 2008 Ah, Jane E., you almost always make my day brighter. I haven't been watching the BSG webisodes because we've always been behind on the seasons. However in listening to her interview with SciFy, she was discussing how she decided Gaeta needed a boyfriend. So much better than the stupidity going on at SGA. What's going on with metafandom these days? I remember back when I started reading it eons ago that each posting came with 7 or 8 links each (with an extra section for fandom-specific meta). Now it seems every few days we get a post with one or maybe two links in it. Am I misremembering how often they used to post? Is fandom shrinking? Similarly, for a while they were picking up posts outside LJ such as at InsaneJournal, and those posts are still getting made from what I'm seeing on meta roundup, but it doesn't seem like those are making it into the metfandom posts anymore. Finally, my last set of my SPN recs for last year. As rich a fandom as SPN is for fic, it's got some amazing vidding being done as well. Case in point -- The Fifth Circle by sockpuppett and Channel Hopping by ash48 have to be the most recced or watched SPN vids this past year. On the off chance someone hasn't yet seen them or is new to the fandom, go watch. Like everyone else, I enjoyed Channel, for its sheer entertainment value but also as a bit of commentary about all the elements that go into the series. I watched Fifth Circle a lot more times though. Aside from my enjoyment at seeing vidders develop constructed realities, it's simply an aesthetically beautiful vid. What both have in common is that you don't really need any knowledge of canon to appreciate them. ( Read more... ) current mood: sleepy

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Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

yourlibrarian

11:34a SPN Crossover Recs Back from holiday traveling and in a bit of a rush today, but buffyversetop5 is underway and I wanted to get some posts up. Here's another set of SPN recs from 2008, all of which were entertaining. Baptism by ultraviolet9a - Adult – Despite really enjoying BSG, I don't read its fic, largely because I am always behind on the series and don't want to be spoiled, and also because I have too much to read already as it is. I've been surprised by how well SPN can be crossed over into other verses though, perhaps because the story is , in its essence, quite simple, and the central characters few. Here we have Dean in pilot training along with Starbuck and Helo. John and Sam are still the centers of his universe, as always, even if he's being pulled into a new orbit. Just a well done internal story for Dean, and a wish from me that this was a full blown epic. ( Read more... ) current mood: busy

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