Memoirs of a Lurker

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Video by nerjav

Just finished reading the fic that this is a (really freakin' amazing) fanvideo of. So, so good. I'm not usually a fan of AUs at all - like, I've seen this on reclists before now and dismissed it, but someone linked me to the video and I thought - well, why not?

Oh man.  The way that the juxtaposition between the Merlinverse and the real world is written is just... perfect. Really.  And the characters are so REAL and the way they interact with each other is... there are just no words. 

My mind = blown.  If you have some spare time, it's definitely worth a read.

I'm Snape, Snape, Severus Snape,
I'm grim and slim and I wear a dark cape.
I'm not a fan of children, but mostly Potter,
The arrogant hot-shot Hogwarts squatter.
He's got no talent, he's all dumb luck,
They say he's just like his father - yeah, they both suck!
So anybody with a brain can see
The little brat just... bothers me.

Yes, I'm back! It has more than a little to do with the delicious mood theme (made by wikked_angel_78) that I just want to stare at all day.  With Colin and Bradley to spur me on, expect spam in the future.  Muaha.

(Also I have a completed NaNoWriMo fic that currently stands at 69k words and just needs to be Beta'd before posting, so that may or may not be up in the next few months.)

Mmkay, so despite me completely neglecting my LJ in favour of other places such as Blogger, I felt the need to post.

Because you see, dear reader, the universe is incredibly awesome and I love it very much. A large percentage of this awesome, however, is  due to the LJ comm marmalade_fish and the magnificent sarahtales.  I realise that with me being one of the worst lurkers to ever grace LiveJournal, these people may not know how wonderful I think they are, but I suffer from a disease commonly known as Shyness, especially when faced with the prospect of communicating with people who are as incredible as what they is.

However, I crawled out of my lurkerhole long enough to put my name into the ARC competition of marmalade_fish  a while ago, and today I received some very exciting news: I FREAKING WON.

YOU GUYS.  My name was on that list.  MY NAME.  On the list of WINNERS who have WON something.  And not just anything - an advanced reader copy of The Demon's Lexicon!  I realise that for those who've never heard of Sarah Rees Brennan, Maya, Mistful, or any such things (where have you been?!) will have no idea what I'm talking about, but for those who do, I'm sure you can understand my excitement. 

Also, anybody whom I know IRL will know what I'm talking about, even if it's just because every time I walk into a bookshop (and this is a very frequent occurrence), I loudly proclaim, "Demon's Lexicon June 2nd!  Prepare yourself, bookshop! I will expect a full display! And author appearances!  Arrange this immediately, please!"

*happy sigh*  I'm a very contented fangirl right now.

Also, look at my icon.  Isn't it sexy?  Om nom.

I don't really know whether this can be classed as "interesting". But there's been a screening of HBP (you know the one... the book with the slash-counter pretty much through the roof) and some guy did a review of it. And, uh, I did a review of the review.

Actually, it's pretty long. Let's LJ cut it.

( My views on The Half Blood Prince )

So, anyways. There are my thoughts. My spelling and grammar probably got worse as the post went along - my spell-checker is no help; apparently it accepts "fwooper" but it doesn't accept "Hermione" - so if you spot any errors please tell me.

Um, the quotes from Philosopher's Stone that I included in this were taken from the Lexicon. Thanks, Steve!

This is FUCKING HILARIOUS.

Nyaargh! This is another rant on the case of WB/JKR vs. SVA/RDR. If you're sick of them, I'm sorry. I just wanted to put my opinion forward, as I haven't seen anyone actually supporting Steve, yet.

M'kay, here's the deal. Yes, Steve is morally wrong to be wanting to make money off JKR's creation. I get that, don't worry. But GODDAMN, people, give the guy a break!

He, too, was against the idea at first, for exactly the same reasons that most are against it now. Quoted from here:

"Vander Ark said he initially was against the idea, partly because he believed it would violate copyright law. Even after Rapoport assured him they could publish legally, he remained unsure and insisted on a contract clause in which RDR agreed to take on costs caused by any copyright lawsuit."

In my opinion, the fandom's bitching should be solely directed towards Roger Rapoport. He's the guy who majorly fucked up, here. All the hate towards Steve, it really pisses me off. I bet at least eighty percent of people who are now swearing that they hate Steve and that they think he's a pathetic loser have used the Lexicon, at least once. Personally, I still swear by it.

Steve has played a very major part in making the fandom what it is today. The Lexicon was his creation; he's spent years dedicating his life to the Harry Potter books and community. His site was a part of the Floo Network (which has now broken up, thanks to this ordeal), and has been interviewed on countless HP-related topics. He was more of a core of the fandom than pretty much anyone in the fanfiction or fanart community, I think.

And seriously, you guys who're calling him pathetic for crying, put yourself in his position! He idolises this woman, far more than most in the fandom do, and for Jo to come out and bluntly say that she thinks him a fool, and that she only awarded the fansite award because it was the nice thing to do (as quoted by Leaky, here), and that she deeply regrets it, hell, I would've been sobbing a LONG time ago. Do you realise how much Steve's self-confidence will have been lowered now? His hero, the woman he's dedicated the last ten years of his life to thinks him an idiot? Jeez.

On the same tone, you guys who're now mocking him for what he looks like? That's low. That's really low. I honestly am disappointed in the fandom, here. I completely expected better. Knocking him for making a bad decision and thinking it to be on some level right to make money from JKR's creation, fine. But laughing at him for crying and saying that the man is ugly? That's just not on, guys.

Before reading all the crap that people have been writing about SVA, I was actually neutral. But now, I'm more inclined to side with Steve. I don't care what your opinion of him is, he doesn't deserve the abuse that's flying around the Internet.

If he (or RDR, seeing as they're the ignorant bastards in all of this) would agree to give the money to a charity, then I would be backing Steve.  Sorry, Jo.

I finally got an LJ, after saving everyone's stuff on my favourites and checking for updates every one or two days. Honestly, I think this thing will stay pretty empty. But we shall see :)