Fanfiction: When the fans want more, more, more!

Last night I, as the ultra cool & hip librarian that I am, held a program at my library about one of my favorite topics; the world of fan fiction.

Fan fiction, you say? Some of you may be familiar with the concept, others not so much. As I explained to the pair of teenaged girls I ran my PowerPoint presentation for, fan fiction (also written as fanfiction) is basically stories written by fans featuring settings and characters from their favorite TV shows, movies, comics, etc. These stories are done without the authorization of the original work's creators, and are written by fans for fans and not for profit, as it would be illegal to try to profit off them due to copyright laws. It's considered part of fan labor, which is an even broader term describing the wide variety of things fans create to pay tribute to what they're fans of, like art, youtube videos, etc.

Some of the non-geeks among you would perhaps think that all of that sounds like a colossal waste of time. Well, aren't we just a touch cynical, non-geeks who would think that way?

A. As long as you're not holed up in a basement somewhere watching hours of taped shows surrounded by memorabilia you spent your life's savings on and can't remember the last time you saw natural light, there is nothing wrong with being a fan. Period. Most fans are normal, everyday people (Yo!) who happen to feel very passionately about their favorite shows or movies or whatever. And I'd just like to point out that sports fans don't get half as much flak as the people who populate Fan Expo every year. There, I said it. But I digress.

And B. The point I was trying to make by introducing this concept to teens in my catchment area is that fan fiction is a great way to express yourself creatively with something you enjoy and probably think about a lot anyway in terms of 'what if?' scenarios. It's a very inclusive form of writing, as you can, depending on the rules of the site you frequent, write about almost anything about...well, almost anything. Plus you can practice your writing doing it, just in case you decide to try to publish your own original works.

Most authors or creators are fine with this, so long as no one's making money. J.K. Rowling has gone on record saying she supports fans who want to play around with her characters. But there are some authors who are so not okay with it. Anne Rice would be one. Part of me gets that, as writing is such a personal thing, and I don't know how I would feel if people were messing around with what I created. But at the same time, I'm like 'Be flattered you created something that has captured people's imaginations'. But that's one thing to keep in mind if you decide to write fan fiction of your own; be respectful of the author's wishes.

I am not ashamed to say that I've written a couple of stories myself. They're published online, and I've gotten some positive comments on them by a few people, so yay! I write under a pen name, however, just in case you try to look for them yourselves.

So I spent about an hour giving the skinny on what fan fiction entails, and it takes that long at least to go over it all. Terminology, history, rules, regulations. But for this post, I'll just give you a couple of links to follow. Most sites will have rules and terms listed for you to take a look.

Fanfiction.net is my favorite site, and is just about the largest, most popular fan fiction site you can find, where many different fandoms are listed. The site has gotten some flak for choosing quantity over quality, and you do have to be careful looking through it, still I like to think of it as the site for the masses, as you can post almost anything you'd like where most other sites have very strict rules on grammar, spelling and content.

Fiction Alley.org is one of the more famous Harry Potter fan fiction sites, and their strict rules for posting stories pretty much guarantees that you'll find well written works. If you want to post one yourself, however, it gets much more complicated (take a look at their rules for posting and you'll see why).

There's a lot more out there to look at. Again though, be careful, be respectful, and don't send anything to the original authors or creators; they may not support your writing it in the first place and they won't read anything created by fans to protect themselves.

Having said that, happy writing and reading!

Gorillaz are back!

One of my very favorite bands have finally, finally, after years of silence, released a new single. And my heart gives happy palpitations along with the driving bass line.

To give you an idea of how long fans like me have been waiting, the last Gorillaz single was released all the way back in 2006. Since then only rumor and the occasional mention in interviews gave fans hope that a new album could be in the works. In fact, back in January of 09 rough demos of three new songs were aired on British radio, and then popped up online. I haven't listened, because I want to hear the completed songs fresh, but they confirmed fan's hopes that an album was indeed coming down the pipe line.

But the music gods have smiled on us, as we now have a release date; March 8th (Lord, how do I wait?)

For those of you unfamiliar with Gorillaz, here's the skinny. It's a virtual band, which is a fancy way of saying that while Gorillaz is made up of real people, most famously Damon Albarn of Blur, what is projected to the public via music videos and even live performances is a group of cartoon characters, drawn by Jamie Hewlett, who are meant to be the actual 'band' (think The Archies, but waaaaay cooler and much more twisted).

The cartoon band members include two Englishmen, a Brooklyn native and a Japanese girl who was FedExed in a crate to them when she was 10 (bear in mind, these are cartoons we're talking about). 2-D is the blue haired, accident-prone vocalist (though the voice you hear is actually Albarn's); Murdoc Niccals is the egomaniacal, satanist bassist; Russel Hobbs is the mentally unbalanced, hip hop drummer and Noodle is the socially conscious, Japanese-government-experiment guitarist. Still with me? OK, good. Anyway, these characters have their own histories, their own personalities and have had their own experiences with Gorillaz, all of which has been documented in the tell-all book Rise of the Ogre, told from the point of view of the 'band' and the creators behind them (great book by the way, but again, pretty freaky).

So, the new song. A lot can happen in four years, but if you give "Stylo" a listen, you'll hear that time has not softened the band's (animated or live-action) unique approach to pop music (check out the official website to hear for yourself). Gorillaz is known both for collaborating with a wide assortment of musicians and their desire to experiment with different musical formats, to come up with new definitions of pop music. "Stylo" features Mos Def and Bobby Womack, providing rap and soul respectively, mixing them with a pulsating rhythm that is very easy to dance to. The president of Parlephone (the band's record label) described the song as "a dark twisted track that sounds like the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack on MDMA." Couldn't have said it better myself. Love it! Can't wait for more.

I'm curious what the animated characters have been up to (and yes, I know they're not real, but still). Looking at new artwork in various magazine articles and for "Stylo" (see above), the four of them have changed quite a bit in the last few years. There's been talk that Noodle is now an android. I don't know what that's about, but hopefully all will be revealed before too long.

Plastic Beach, Gorillaz's third album, is out March 8th, and a new music video is in the works as well. Happy days, people! Hopefully the band will be just as animated as ever (always end on a good pun).

Golden Globes keep on turning

So the Golden Globes have come and gone, officially kicking off this year's Award Season. And with them came all the typical glitz and glamour one tends to expect from a big Hollywood ceremony.

You see, I'm more of an Oscar girl myself. But I do have a soft spot for the Globes. It's the only big awards show that combines film and television into one three-hour event.

In that regard, I was rather disappointed with this year's ceremony. I mean, the show itself was fine. Ricky Gervais was a good host, though some of his comments were clearly meant for shock value. Martin Scorsese was given the Cecil B. Demille award in a touching tribute. And there were plenty of fashion choices to ponder or admire, and touching speeches.

No, the disappointing part came when none of my favorites were winning. Hugh Laurie lost to Michael C. Hall. Mad Men beat out House and True Blood. The nominated cast members of Glee lost. Avatar won best dramatic movie. It just was not going my way.

But it wasn't a total loss. I was surprised when The Hangover won for best movie, comedy or musical. I haven't seen it yet but from what I hear it's the kind of film that doesn't win awards, so I was pleased to see a flick like that get recognition.

What made me happiest, however, were two big moments. Glee won best TV series, comedy or musical. Damn right. And Robert Downey Jr. won a Globe for his portrayal as Sherlock Holmes. Yay! I especially liked his statement as he got on stage "If you try to play me off I will tear this place apart!"

So, ups and downs, but still enjoyable. But for God's sake, let's bring on the Oscars!

Album Review: The Fame Monster

Say what you will about Lady Gaga. That girl knows her way around a pop/dance track.

Case in point; The Fame Monster, her new 8 track album and follow up to her massively successful The Fame. Actually, the great thing about the deluxe edition is that you get both Fame Monster and The Fame all in one. I'll have much to listen to with my car's CD player.

But enough about me and my car stereo (I love my new car!) The Fame Monster has got some awesome tracks. "Bad Romance" has been making the rounds on radio waves and iTunes, and with good reason. As I've stated before on this very blog, it's AWESOME! I've been humming it for weeks now. But there are other musical morsels to sample here as well. "Alejandro" has an 80's vibe mixed with Latin salsa. "Telephone", a duet with Beyonce, should be a club staple if it's not already. "Speechless" is a surprising addition, as it has a slower, retrospective Billy Joel kind of feel to it. "Monster" will have Team Jacob fans jumping. But for me, it doesn't get much better than "Teeth", which screams True Blood with a New Orleans beat and a declaration of "Big Man now show me your fangs!"

The Verdict: A nice tide-me-over. Hopefully more to come. But there'll definitely be more questionable fashion choices while we're waiting.

Conan takes NBC to task (and that sound you hear is me cheering)

So about seven months ago, Conan O'Brien inherited The Tonight Show from Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon took over Late Night and Leno got his own prime time talk show. The seasons of television changed, as they often do, and everything settled into this new world order.

Not quite, it turns out. Leno's show has been tanking in ratings, and The Tonight Show had taken a bit of a ratings dive as well, so much so for both shows that NBC has decided to take action. Their response? They've announced recently that they are planning to bump Jay back to the 11:35 time slot, push The Tonight Show up to 12:35, and then Late Night would air at 1:30.

Hearing this, I thought 'What a ridiculous response, it's like pretending nothing happened'! Jay's emotional farewell from The Tonight Show and Conan's boon to begin hosting it wouldn't mean jack squat if they just moved everyone back to their original time slots.

That was my initial reaction. The more I pondered this, the more unjust it seemed to nearly everyone involved, and the more my outrage grew. Bad enough that Jimmy Fallon would be moved to such a late time slot that any chance he would have of building an audience would be slim to none. But the most injured party, however, would have to be Conan himself. This is the guy who was promised The Tonight Show throne six years ago, and who spent those six years preparing himself and his staff to do his predecessors proud and to build a new audience at an earlier time slot. The guy uprooted himself from his beloved New York, moved down to LA to set up shop, and finally had his chance to shine. Seven months later, it could all be taken away from him. And for what? Because Leno has to have a show, and they didn't expect this new one to tank? Because NBC didn't have a contingency plan for when Leno's success grew in those six years leading up to the transition and now they want to keep him but don't know how to do it since they already gave away The Tonight Show? Come on!

Now I am biased here, I admit. I've never been a huge Leno fan (like him fine, but never made time to watch his show), and have been a long time Conan fan (what he did with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert during the writer's strike was pure gold, and the man spent a week doing his show in Toronto!) But even to the casual observer, this would strike some as being an unfair and disappointing move on NBC's part.

Well, Conan spoke out about it, and while remaining respectful and humorous, he did not mince words that he felt that moving the Tonight Show to 12:30 would not only be a blow to him and his staff, but would also be the downfall of the franchise itself, and that he would leave the show if the move was made, despite not having any other offers from other networks. I not only fully support his decision I applaud his response. It takes some cojones to publicly disagree with your network. Way to stick up for your show!

It's hard to tell how this will play out. Some will be behind Leno, other's behind Conan. Perhaps Leno will take some form of action that will help settle things. Otherwise, hopefully, NBC will sort this out promptly and fairly...but I have a feeling they'll end up taking Leno's side (he is the Golden Boy over there). But there's got to be a better way to deal with slipping ratings than screwing everyone over, am I right? To be continued...

Idol Returns...And I end up watching it!

First off, sorry for the excessive amount of dead air lately. A busy holiday season coupled with computer troubles (I'm currently using my roomate's laptop) has slowed me down. Oh, and Happy New Year.

Speaking of the new year, here's the thing. One of the very first posts I ever published on this blog was about my raging disappointment in American Idol, previously one of my favorite TV shows. There was a very long rant about unnecessary changes made to the format, the addition of Kara, and, perhaps most atrocious of all, the fact that Adam Lambert didn't win, even though he clearly should have. I wondered then whether or not I would return to the show when it came back to the airwaves in January.

Well, that time is now. The two hour premiere aired tonight on Fox. And I watched it. Not just for a few minutes to just stick my head in, so to speak, and see what's going on. I watched the whole freakin' thing! And I may keep watching. What a difference a few months can make, huh?

Tonight was the auditions in Boston, with the typical drama, moving stories, awesome talent and people who have absolutely no business singing in public and don't seem to know it. One auditioner that stood out for me was an anime fan who apparently has been singing her whole life. She's had vocal coaches, been in musical theatre, etc. Then we had the privilege of watching and, unfortunately, listening to her screech her way through Janis Joplin. Seriously, she was bad...and then she was shocked when the judges didn't like it, even more so when they advised her to give singing up entirely. You had to feel for her though, when she berated said judges in front of a camera later, asking 'How dare you?' for suggesting she give up her supposed passion in life.

A couple of standouts who could end up making the semi finals were also showcased tonight. And as I sat and watched with my roomate I commented and talked to the screen like a always do. I didn't mind Kara's contributions, laughed at Simon & Randy's comments, enjoyed seeing Posh Spice guest judging, and, as mean as this may sound, I did not miss Paula. Overall, it was just like visiting an old friend.

So will this hesitant viewership on my part continue? I'll keep you posted. After all, it would be nice to see Simon and Ellen together once the auditions are over. And how much longer will Simon be on AI for me to enjoy anyway? In the mean time, feel free to post any and all shock at my going back to all of this below.

Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes

You know, I've been anticipating this movie for about a year. I've run programs about it at work, put Victorian mysteries on display at the library, and revisited Arthur Conan Doyle's original works about the great detective (can you tell I'm a fan? Well I am, very much).

I had one massive worry about it, however. The Holmes franchise has been a fairly inactive one of late, which saddens me greatly. It's a huge mine of novels and short stories (both Doyle's and other authors), movies, even television shows. The original canon holds up so well over a hundred years later, and I am all for new audiences discovering one of the most prominent, enduring and intriguing fictional characters ever created. As the new movie approached, with Guy Ritchie at the helm who, if we're being honest, has been very hit and miss as a director, my only hope for everyone involved in making the film was; Do not screw this up!

Turns out, they didn't. Don't believe me? Check the box office receipts.

While Sherlock Holmes will never win an Oscar (though it's star is nominated for a Golden Globe), it's a fun, action packed romp through smoggy Victorian London, and Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law do excellent justice to Holmes and Watson. Their banter with each other was one of the most enjoyable parts of the movie. The plot was loyal to much of the original canon, but was willing to also take a few liberties to create it's own story. Irene Adler was involved too, and I'm always happy to see her, as she only had one appearance in Doyle's works.

I feel that this movie corrects a lot of misconceptions about the detective and doctor. Watson in particular has gotten a bad wrap as a bumbling sidekick. The Dr. Watson that Doyle first conceived was a smart, brave, capable army vet who was always reliable in a pinch, and so Jude Law portrays him here. And for those naysayers who declare that Ritchie unnecessarily bumped up the action and turned Holmes from a strict intellectual into a fighter need only read the original stories to find Holmes the boxer, sword fighter and martial artist. Check and mate. Downey Jr. deserves that Golden Globe nod for keeping Holmes' quirks and demons, while maintaining the detective's charm and humor.

My Verdict: A nice, light relaunch, and hopefully those rumors of a sequel will come to pass.