just a point

I'm too tired to go into the whole of this now, and it will probably be misconstrued but:

Journalists don't owe you shit.

(and to digress for a moment -- don't talk to a journalist unless you are extremely disciplined about what you say and how you say it and can say it concisely, otherwise you're not going to be happy with the result. and if you don't know who else they're interviewing for a piece, or the thrust of it, don't talk to the journalist if you don't have the badnwidth for a displeasing result. I mean really, are you going to go on reality TV and then be surprised that the editing makes it look different than it was?).

They are not obligated to report the truth as you see it, nor are they obligated to care about what they write about. Hell, I had whole classes in J-school on how to write about shit I didn't actually understand (read: how to be a science journalist without being a scientist).

Some journalists are sloppy. Some are scumbags. Some like human interest stories because they care and some like them because they like to mock the freaks. Journalists can't control their editors or their headlines are are frequently beyond frustrated by whatever version of their article finally makes it to print.

Regardless, their job is not to make the subjects of their articles happy.

Finally, journalists are human and make mistakes.

Plenty of people I know have plenty of reasons to be legitimately pissed at journalists, but I am once again fed up with people being angry with "The Media" and taking it out on some non-specific guy at the bottom on the food chain who didn't do shit and/or some poor journalist who did the best they could with 600 words when you wanted 6,000 for your pet obsession.

Jouranlism is a screwy business, populated by screwy people dealing with the awkward and ugly trasntion into industry. Like anything else it has its good guys and bad guys. But I am sick sick sick of the immediate/automatic response to an article that didn't meet someone's personal fantasy being "is she stupid?" (this, btw, not directed at the individual on my friendslist who has a very good reason to be saying that very thing over a certain recent event).

I can be a real prick, but hello, NOT THE BAD GUY.

(brought to you by asshatery I'm trying to have the dignity not to explain)

Ghosts (repost), Snape/OFC, 31/48

Ghosts (repost), Snape/OFC, 31/48
Rating: G – hard-R; this chapter PG-13
Author’s Notes:

If you don’t know what this is, please read this.

Despite a recent tune-up, this was written in 2001 and is not compliant with the current state of the HP universe.

Your feedback and commentary are always welcome, even for a time capsule such as this.

You can find all chapters here.

If you’re looking for slash, het, poly, Book-6 compliant Slytherin backstory please visit the recently updated Fascilis Descensus Averno a WIP written with kalichan. It features Severus Snape, Lucius & Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix & Rodolphus Lestrange and Regulus Black and mostly takes place in 1979 – 1981 but has forays both significantly forward and back in time.
Disclaimer: It’s JKR’s world, I just mess about with it.

( ˝Now what in Hades are you on?˝ )

tattoo draft

I should be asleep, but I did this instead. The tan outer band will probably get removed (my arm can't hold something that wide, I'm tiny and it was there from the original image I screwed with to make this anyway) and there may be some elements I either want around the outside os the smaller circle (since the large will be going away) that I haven't resolved yet, but this is the first time I've gotten close enough to it to post something.

Melusine

One more generalized thought before Jaida hopefully begins the discussion:

Monette's American, ney? It shows.

Don't hinge your book on status issues folks if you don't _know_ from status. It doesn't have to be personal experience, but you really have to work the research. Really really. 'Cause it reads hollow. HP does so well with status issues for two reasons -- 1. Brits are more conscious of it, but 2. JKR went from being poor to wealthy in the course of writing them -- as status became a more important topic in the books (blood status, etc.) she was also getting a taste of the divide as she moved across it in some manner.

Mildmay works and Felix doesn't because Monette clearly has no notion of aristocracy in her real world or her fictional one. While the logistics of being poor are often nearly impossible for the middle class to comprehend, they do understand it involves logistics (being aristocracy means largely not having to deal with the logistics accept by choice) and s can at least build something plausible at least for a fantasy world setting.

(This is something, I would argue that also causes problems in HP fanfic, and not just with status issues. The logistical concerns of the wizarding world are different than ours -- travel faster and cheaper; communication slower -- peopel trip all over this all the time).

Mucking up status is the quiest way to make a book lame. And since crappy fantasy world tropes are always all about that... really people!

in entirely other news

My fic, The Convenient Marriage (SS/HG/OMC) and kalichan's fic from descensus_hp, May 5, 1968 (LM/BB -- please heed warnings) are both nominees in the Sorting Hat Awards (Look in the "Voldemort Wins" and "Childhood of Canon Characters" catagories).

There are lots of great fics there besides, so go read, go vote, and hopefully make it for us ;)

Studio 60

Studio 60, which I didn't think i'd like, is astoundingly good. I only caught 40 minutes of the first episode and I a) want more b) really hope fannish types watched it with the same bunny eyes I did and will write the stuff I'm not gonna, because it's not a universe I know how to play with.