I can't post on http://jorhett.livejournal.com/373855.html . However.
The DAMNED will-this-stupid-Energizer -Bunny-Bad-Idea-please-DIE-already- can't-the-proponents-even-go-one-damned-year- without-popping-it-up-AGAIN-as-a-motion YA Hugo proposal is the issue. It is NOT "White Male Shuts Down Female." It is "would this damned thing STOP coming up every year when it is the overwhelming sentiment of more than 2/3rds of the people at the Worldcon Business Meeting, year after year after year, that this is a BAD idea, and those who keep bringing it up, are wasting everyone's time and energy with an ill-conceived, unworkable apparently ideologically-based wrong-headed crusade which they refuse to let go of and refuse to consider the opinions and -experience- of other people regarding the merit/workability/value."

I seem to recall that there was years ago an attempt to try out a YA Hugo, and that the nominations made failed to meet the criteria to get anything on the final ballot (that is, enough works given enough nominations for there to be from four to six works to list on the final ballot) More recently, there is the issue of how to define YA, who is competent/knowledgeable to vote--the Worldcon does -not- hve age limits on Hugo voting! --and the problem that if something got nominated for YA it would not be eligible for the non-age-group-limited Hugo... Somehow I don't think e.g. Neil Gaiman would have been happier with a YA Hugo than the Hugo he did get, and one of the Harry POtter novels got a Best Novel Hugo.

The proponents of the damned thing, again, keep making motions year after year after year pushing the thing. Crusades get ANNOYING. Every year, the response is "Object to Consideration" and by margins of at least 2:1, the matter gets tossed out, every year. One might think the proponents would Get A Clue, and perhaps focus on if they really want YA awards, doing what other people have been doing and setting up their own? There are the Sideways Awards for Alternate History, there are the Chesleys for science fiction and fantasy art, there are the Pegasus Awards for filk... there are dozens of blogs and websites and discussion forums and conventions which all give out awards, so those people who are so demanding for YA awards, go set up your OWN, dammit!

(Note, I am not at the Worldcon this year.

The year hath revolved....

A few weeks back I set for HDTV reception. There were a few surprises, such as additional channels from the old channels. One of them has the old BS Galactica on. Oh WOW is it vile, my memory of it being bad is more than justified!

I got bounced off a mailing list over the weekend I presume for being underwhelmed regarding promotion of the "March Madness" book contests in which various sites do head to head "which one gets the most "votes" of Book A against Book B, Book C against Book D,  then the winner of A versus B against  the winner of C against D.... there is no vetting on the voting, someone can go camp out and every twelve minutes register another vote--reminds me of the Hogus, actually....  and there is lots of cheerleading and exhortation to go thou and vote for particular books.

I find the whole thing distasteful and misguided.... comparing different types of books, for one thing, I find unfair, and the A against B format annoys me--sports teams on a level playing field is one thing, PARTICULARLY with teams which play for entire seasons against the same opponents.  Books are NOT sports teams, and I prefer "competitions" like the Hugos where preferential voting comes into play, there isn't a "luck of the draw" involved in pitting A versus B, and where electioneering and ballot stuffing are rife and not considered anything to find objectionable....

It caused to me consider the larger issue, of where does promotion become distasteful/toxic/overbearing?   Different people have different tolerance points, obviously....

It's March, Orion is in the night sky, and....( Read more...Collapse )

Perhaps that should have been "Leonine March," but I'm quite fond of Michelle Sagara's Cast in... books, which have Leontines--as opposed to Barrani, which are also a sapient felinoid species--but rather more stuck up and haughty that Leontines, who are much more lion-like.

Anyway...
There is snow on the ground, which was not there on Saturday. It is cold out; Friday was mild. It's springtime, but the weather is behaving more like the end of December!

So, I got memed by Somebody (he knows who he is...).

Housefilks

Housefilks can be odd things,
And sometimes called that name,
But is it a housefilk,
If the name is not the same?

I got tagged with Housefilks ( Read more...Collapse )

It was that time of year, for the annual Car Inspection. It was also rather past that time, for things like oil change, and getting towards the 90,000 mile recommended car servicings....

( Read more...Collapse ). It also ate up all most of Saturday, preventing me from being out and about (I started walking home from the garage, and about halfway home, my cousin who lives in town, happened to be driving by, and stopped and picked me up, drove me to the bank (which was on the way), waited for me to get done there, and then drove me home. The garage picked me up to get the car back.

And it's another year.
As usual, when not in a situation conducive to posting, I remember things I was going to post, and when at home on-line, don't remember them. Alas, alack, etc.
Hmm, having said that, I do remember some things...
Cover art--most noxious book cover on a book I would otherwise like, the new cover of the first of the Charlaine Harris Dead... books. I hate that cover. It is loathsome, it is obnoxious, it repells me. I am very glad I have the original edition which the cover does not revolt me.

It's Tigerbright's fault/instigation.... She specifically instigated!

Gowdy font, Gowdy font
Crisco and nachos,
Ex-Lax for the Worst of the Web
Gowdy font.

There are fonts I cannot read
Gowdies not among them,
Horrors that will churn one's gut,
Someone should have hung them!

Gowdy font, Gowdy font
Crisco and nachos,
Ex-Lax for the Worst of the Web
Gowdy font.