Month: July 2014

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Steve: How did you two meet, to begin with?

Graeme: We met because I ripped Jeff off. That’s maybe not completely true — Jeff and I both knew Brian Hibbs, who owns San Francisco’s Comix Experience store and we’ve both worked for him at various times in our lives — but when I created the Fanboy Rampage!!! blog those many years ago, I subconsciously ripped the name off from the monthly column Jeff wrote for the Comix Experience newsletter.

It was so subconscious that, when Jeff got in touch to politely ask if I’d done it, my first response was “Of course I didn’t, what are you talking about?” It was my first experience with riding on Jeff’s coattails, but not my last.

Jeff: Mine is the Fanboy Rampage of Earth Two: technically, it came first, but it’s mostly a footnote to Graeme’s. I’m just glad I get to team up with him more frequently than once a year and I don’t have to have the rest of the JSA in tow.

Go check out Graeme and Jeff getting interviewed by Steve Morris over at The Beat for more brain-breaking revelations about your Whatful Duo! (via waitwhatpod)

It’s still weird being interviewed. But I kind of like it.

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None of your elected backbench MPs have been told what Bill is to be debated on Monday. It’s Wednesday evening. Tomorrow, MPs are on a ‘one line whip’ ie they can return to their constituencies this evening.

Imagine how outrageous it would be, if tomorrow, the government were to announce emergency legislation to an empty chamber. Imagine if that emergency legislation was to be introduced on Monday or Tuesday, with the intention of it slipping through the Commons and the Lords in a single day. Imagine if that Bill was the deeply controversial Data Retention Bill.

It’s a Bill that will override the views of judges who have seen how the mass collection of your data breaches the human rights of you and your family.

From here.
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As a former DC editor, I’m well aware of the equity process. In the course of my job at the company, I was involved with sending the equity paperwork to creators, letting them know the guidelines, and occasionally submitting related paperwork to the proper department within DC to ensure the creators were taken care of. There were some characters from comics I worked on where creators requested equity and were turned down based on the above criteria, and Brennert is one of many such creators. There are lots of creators who have been granted equity when their characters do meet those qualifications.

Based on my experience, my reading of the situation is this: Brennert’s creation of Barbara Kean Gordon is not only “close” to her sometimes-daughter in the DCU, Barbara Gordon; it fits all of DC’s stated criteria for being officially derivative. She looks the same, has the same name – she’s even at a library after hours, implying that she, like Barbara Not-Kean Gordon, is a librarian.

– Janelle Asselin looks at whether or not Alan Brennert deserves creator equity for usage of Jim Gordon’s wife in the new Gotham TV show.
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In a moment of frustration with this Potato Salad project AND with Kickstarter, I decided to see how far we could take things. CLEARLY they must say “no” to something, right?

And so was born “Air”, a Kickstarter project created by me.

Air is exactly what it seems. I’m going to sell you… AIR.

2oz jars of fucking NOTHING.

The rewards are funny, all tongue in cheek. For example, I’ll go to Harry Potter land at Universal and get you some Air. Or I’ll go to the Florida swamp and get you some swamp air. (You can click this link and see the draft page for yourself…CLICK HERE!)

SO, I wrote up the rewards and the story and created the project, clicked submit, and waited to see what the response would be.

I thought “there’s no WAY it’ll be approved"… at least then I could have SOME hope for the future of Kickstarter. At least someone there would have some common sense. "They won’t allow me to just sell air. There’s no way.”

YEAH.

They APPROVED it.

They APPROVED me SELLING AIR.

From here.

I do wonder at what point the potato salad Kickstarter will go from “Hey, I totally contributed to this fun meme!” to “Hey, did I really give a stranger $10 for nothing?” Maybe I don’t have enough money to spare to really get the joke.

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Kamentz had a stupid thought – that her lack of deep relationships with non-white sources reflected on those sources, rather than on her journalism. She aired her thought in public. People corrected her. She changed her thinking. That’s actually how social media is supposed to work for reporters. It’s not just a place where you broadcast your stories to a grateful audience, never embarrassing your employer or yourself. It’s a place where you can also think out loud and get feedback.

From here.
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And Down Again

warrenellis:

Cars, planes, airports and hotel rooms all share a single sound: that constant tv-show-spaceship susurrus of air-conditioning.  So many hotels seem to embrace the metaphor.  It’s not a serviced room in a communal space you rent.  It’s an excursion pod, a lander, a module from which you can view the alien vista outside.  The more you pay, the bigger the module, the more chance there is of having a…

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This reminds me of the fact that I’m not going to Comic-Con this year, meaning that my traditional five-day-or-so sojourn in hotel rooms won’t be happening. It’s a very strange experience, that almost-week, and the hum of the air conditioning (and resultant chill as I get out of bed each day) is a constant part of it.

As upset as I was about not going when I found out, the closer we get to the event, the more at peace–perhaps even eager–about not attending I get.

(I really enjoy Ellis’ short essays each day on Morning, Computer.)