My Sordid Fan Fiction Past

Sometimes - just sometimes - I hate the internet.

I was doing some general online searching around my name (purely out of ego, you understand), and found a wiki containing some Doctor Who crossover - and other - fan fiction that I've written.

Fifteen-ish years ago, I participated in a series of round robin writing of Doctor Who crossover and "past Doctor" fiction. (Hey, Paul McGann threatened for a brief shining moment to be the new David Tennant). So I'm offering, in slightly incomplete form (some sites/writing have been taken down; others seem to be lost in the ether). I'm doing this not just to document these efforts (which I think are pretty decent, given their obvious fannishness), but to provide some cheap laughs.

I decided that, rather than identify these excerpts by name, I would choose what I think is the most clever quote. Please feel free to suggest your own. Enjoy!

• Never play chess with an Osirian
•  Depending on who you ask, these Time Lords are either a race of omnipotent superbeings, a politically corrupt race of powermongers, or a bunch of aliens with *way* too much time on their hands.
• "I don't know if you know this, but those were trying times. We were trying to stop a virulent, poisonous belief system..."  "What - that maybe instead of rich and poor, there were people who had their basic needs met? That power is best shared rather than horded? Yes, that is a poisonous system...to those in power."
  
• If no one has or will ever be here, then how come a youngboy and a big robot beastie are heading this way?
  
  
• Remember:when you hunt, do not hunt the lowliest of creatures; hunt something thatmay hurt you as easily as you can hunt it

I'm Protesting SOPA

Yes, I'm joining in the day-long boycott of the Stop Online Privacy Act...and other legislation. (Yes, I know Obama came out against it, but there are other bills that can do as much damage.

Write your congressional leaders. Do what you need to do, but let's all

STOP SOPA

Post # 1000 - One Web Day

This is, quite frankly, a really good opportunity for me to celebrate and do some good at the same time. It's great multitasking in action.

First, this is the 1,000th post that I have written - little did I know four and some years ago that I would make it this far. Luckily, the fact that I've made it to 1,000 posts is a great milestone. Just ask Rich.

And yes, the Internet has made a definite impact on my life - it's granted me relationships that I never had before. It's allowed me (ironically) to open up socially, moving from the introverted loudmouth in high school to...a slightly less introverted loudmouth in real life. Building social relationships online has helped enable me to work on those offline as well. In fact, thanks to heavy internet use, my current job (which has little - if anything - to do with my professional training) has led me to working with some like minded people.

But one of the important things about the Internet that has helped me is that it's made me become a better informed citizen. As many of you are aware, today is One Web Day - a way to bring awareness to the impact of the Internet on our lives. In fact, one of the best ways is that it has helped me learn a lot more about politics - and coming from a health-policy obsessed person like myself, it has been an aid. However, I would like to share more about that - so, just in time, please feel free to listen to this special podcast which goes into slightly more detail. You'll thank me for it later.

And as promised in the podcast, here are some resources for you to use. Enjoy!

• CounterSpin (Non-partisan analysis of news stories)
  
• News Hounds (or, "Fair and balanced" criticism of Fox News)
• Roger's Constitution Giveaway
• Toluu (RSS Feed Sharing)
• Chicago Net Tuesdays
  
• Netvibes (RSS/E-mail Organization)
• Feast of Fools (podcast)

And now, I gotta wrote post # 1001, which will be, as the teenagers say, "covered in awesome sauce"

A Brand New Blog!

Going to make this one rather short and sweet...

At work, I'm part of a new blog called Junk Fewd which looks at digital culture, and how we're starting the "good old days" for the next generation of digital natives.

My writing - well, it's just like this blog, only without the references to comic books. And pop culture. And I actually use spell check on my posts.

But it's more than that - it's a kind of discussion about where we are. You'll meet some of the people I work with. You'll read about "teh internets", and most importantly - it's good stuff all around.

That's "Junk Fewd"

Read it. Dream it. Believe it. Because the Internet is serious business.

P.S. I've included an old photo of my godson Logan for no other reason than an attention grabber. Enjoy!

Controversial Comics Post # 437

You know, with all the brouhaha over the Wonder Woman Playboy cover, or the "Brand New Day" storyline in Amazing Spider-Man, it's easy to lose sight over stories that may be more disconcerting - in fact, two stories that could have a definite impact over the future of comics have been relatively ignored.

(And to be fair - in terms of the Playboy cover, I would take it more seriously if 1) it wasn't a magazine that regularly featured women in provocative poses, and 2) whose cover model was the first firing from Celebrity Apprentice. And I've podcast this before, and I'll say it again: Amazing Spider-Man is a crappy comic).

Late last year, a European torrent tracker was asked by both Marvel and DC to stop providing access for comics torrents. (And by "asked", I mean "sent cease-and-desist" letters on their attorney's stationary"). In addition, The Pirate Bay - a tracker in Sweden - has also had multiple software, hacking, and legal issues, with their sole defense being, "We're in Sweden - we're not subject to American copyright laws".

I'm blogging about this because while perusing the blogsophere, I encountered another blogger who basically asserted that they would not purchase one particular company's comics, and that the "DL community" should fight back against poor comics. I performed a quick Google and Ask search on "DL Community" and could find no solid answer, meaning that 1) it more than likely means "download" and/or 2) it's an unusual intimate practice known only by a few individuals...and Andy Martello. Given that Marvel and DC are attempting to enter the online comics game, and are meeting with mixed results, my advice is...how about a torrent subscription service?

Granted, setting a service like that up would be complicated, as you would require people to seed your files, converting all comics into electronic formats, and most importantly - paying a fair wage to current artists and writers, and appropriately compensation past artists and writers . (Taking my cue from a caller to a recent episode of Sound Opinions, I'm trying to avoid the issues that led to the WGA Strike). Given the decreasing quality of their books, Marvel and DC should consider alternative means of distribution, since traditional comic sales are fluctuating.

Now, of course, the more cynical amongst you are saying, "Gee, tough talk for a guy sitting behind a keyboard - how do we lay the groundwork? You say you got a real solution, well, you know...we'd all love to see the plan." To which I say, "What makes me so different than the rest of the comics blogosphere?" Traditional media is realigning, confused by the emergence of digital distribution, the rules are changing, and instead of focusing on how to adapt to this paradigm shift (and I hate that phrase)...we're worried about Wonder Woman with body paint...and writing on Spider-Man that would have been par-for-the-course back in the early 1970s.

I understand - women should not be objectified. We should have well-written comics instead of sales-increasing stunts. But quite frankly, as someone who loves graphic literature...I think we're losing sight of some critical issues, most notably, that the way in which information and product is distributed is changing. Music, movies, and even comics are moving towards a more digital domain, and instead of focusing on how to capitalize on that...we're worried because Wonder Woman is semi-naked (and the woman posing is compared to Lynda Carter).

Enough of this tempest in a teapot - and now, back to life as usual.