janedavitt

I have Google alerts set up for things and people I'm interested in and one of them is for Richard Burgi. Generally they tell me about new roles he's in. This morning I got one that said

Richard Burgi, born on July 30, 1958 in Montclair, was an American actor. He died on August 9, 2012, at the age of 54.

I clicked on the link, feeling awful, and it was to a site that posts 'anticipated obituaries' so you can put a tribute to someone before they die. What the hell?

http://en.necropedia.org/obituary/Richard_Burgi

It was pre-coffee or I might have been quicker on the uptake, but it was not a nice start to the morning.

Sick fucks.

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Just read this news round-up post at Dear Author (here) and several bits jumped out as being depressing (stop analyzing what I read on my e-reader, you damn Peeping Toms!), but this bit was the worst.

At this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA, Random House Audio will be recreating an audiobook studio right on the convention floor–inviting authors of fan fiction to record a sample of their work for a chance to have their story recorded and produced as a digital audiobook. Stories from the following fandoms are eligible for the contest: Star Wars® The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer”
[...]

Entrants will be required to sign a Submission Form/Release acknowledging that the Fan Fiction is derived from and legally dependent upon the copyright of the previously published work upon which it is based (the “Underlying Work”), and therefore Entrant has no legitimate independent rights to either the Underlying Work or the Fan Fiction, and that the Fan Fiction will be considered work made for hire. The Submission Form/Release is set forth below, and will be available at the Random House Audio recording booth. Entrants are encouraged to carefully read the Submission Form/Release in advance of their recording time.

We sometimes put disclaimers at the top of fics saying the characters and setting etc aren't ours, which is fair enough, but I'm damned if I'd say the story wasn't mine. Because it IS.

As DA adds, they're looking for another Book I Will Not Mention Because I'm Fed Up to the Back Teeth With, not giving authors any chance to shine.

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rants

I shouldn't have been surprised. I mean, we booked 'free' flights with our air miles and got charged thousands of dollars in taxes, airport fees, etc.

I've renewed (and tweaked) my cell phone plan and was told that I was entitled to a free upgrade. My phone's decided that I'm not cool enough to use the text function (LIKE I WANTED TO ANYWAY!!!) and doesn't have the slidey thing so you had to press a button three times to get to a letter and I never did grasp how to make it do numbers or correct a mistake.

So I toddled into the local store and asked for my New!Free!Shiny! Phone.

Turned out that Bluetooth, which I daringly asked for without having a clue what it was except it means I can go hands free in the car after spending lots more money, and a slide out keyboard are now bog standard.

Kewl.

He then asked what I wanted and when I said 'Simple. Very, very simple. I use my phone rarely and text three times a year, if that.' he sold me the latest (only been out four days!!) Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro. It was $50, but there was a $50.00 rebate so that means free, yes?

Nope. That means $100 in extras and stuff that only got revealed when the thing was out of the box with my old sim card in (it didn't transfer all my numbers over either, though there're only about six of them so not to worry.

It's touch screen and keeps trying to connect me to the net which even I'm not naive enough to think is free. Hmm, let me see what this teeny-tiny writing says. No, it's $25.00 a month. I don't THINK so.

Being ahead of the techie curve is way expensive. I'll be over in the corner prodding helplessly, hopefully at it and trying to turn it on.

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phone,
rants

I don't know why this one got to me, because it happens all the time, but a fellow author pointed me at a download site with many of my books (and the Ghost trilogy,

wesleysgirl) were being offered up for free and I'm so ticked off.

Wild Raspberries had been downloaded 52 times.

Sheesh.

I wrote to them and got a letter back saying they'd take them down but needed my address and phone number.

I DON'T BLOODY WELL THINK SO.

I gave them links to their files and where they're available for sale with the publishers. There are masses there from other authors I know but word is spreading. It's hopeless, mind you; one set of files is deleted, they go right back up again on another site.

I'll go back to writing the sequel to Wild Raspberries now. Wouldn't want to keep all those eager readers out there waiting :;is bitter::

(And this makes me appreciate those of you who pay for the books even more and I didn't think that was possible. Thank you).

ETA Calmer now; publishers have been told and are dealing with it, so hopefully the files will go soon.

Thanks for the support! :;hugs::

ETA2 The files are down. For now...

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rants

Lauren 7, Grade 3, gets books given to her at school that she brings home to read with me and when she's done 50 nights of reading she gets to read a book to the principal. All well and good, but tonight she brought a graphic novel home that she'd been given and Mum (my parents are over from England for 3 weeks; David is IN England for a week, go figure) brought it to me and said maybe I could check it first.

It's a book in a series, and I quote.

True-life tragedies jump off the page in the graphic library set disasters in history.

Check out these other Disasters in history titles:

The Apollo 13 Mission
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Challenger Explosion
The Donner Party
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871
The Hindenburg Disaster
Shackleton and the Lost Antarctic Expedition

and (the one Lauren was given) The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

I'm surprised 9/11 and the Titanic aren't on the list.

The factory fire was a landmark for workers' rights and highlighted the plight of factory workers; Lauren needs to know about it and the women and children who died in that fire.

But she doesn't need it in comic form with a young woman begging to be allowed onto the last elevator to safety and being turned away as it was full, leaving her to die, women jumping to avoid being burned into nets that gave way, killing them and she doesn't need it now, this young.

I wrote a terse note explaining that she'd read a Sparkle Fairy book instead and please to find another series for her to read in this program.

The Donner Party. Sheesh.

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rants

In need of consoling (see previous post), I remembered that this morning I went for the weekly coffee meet at Tim Hortons and they had a new donut and I bought three (two are for the girls before you think I'm just plain greedy).

It's called the Strawberry Blossom Donut (see it here: http://www.timhortons.com/en/index.html) and it's covered in pink and white sprinkles, shaped like a flower and oozing with strawberry goodness. Well, red stuff, anyway.

I took one out of the bag, eager for the delicious combo of crunch, squish and slurp and ------

The lady had given me three boring, ordinary, can get any day strawberry donuts, dusted with icing sugar, boringly round, not a sprinkle in sight.

::shakes tiny fists of rage at the sky and bursts into sobs:;

Yes, I still ate it. What? It's a donut; come on!

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rants

I'm resolutely ignoring the recent wave of LJ palaver. I don't know why I am, I just am. Maybe it's because this time it's not as clear-cut (don't tell me if you think it is; I won't mind, I'm just...eh. Disenchanted. Cynical. Whatever). What's getting my knickers in a twist more is the 'report abuse' button that's supposedly going to be attached to each post at some point soon.

To quote Buffy, 'a world of no'. Make it an effort to report abuse, make it something more than a mouseclick. Or I guaran-fucking-tee you, it'll be misused by every passing troll, halfwit, and person with a grudge and that's before we start on the dipsticks in a righteous froth over slash, kink, smut, whatever.

And, hell, it doesn't even have to be fic; post a political opinion someone doen't like and get clicked? Who knows where it'll end?

Bad idea, LJ. Bad, bad idea.

Plus, hello? MY paid for journal, thank you very much. I'll leave stuff out of my posts if the TOS demands it but I'm damned if I'll have you adding stuff in.

Just out of interest, where does it actually say they're doing that?

ETA: it's from here

http://community.livejournal.com/changelog/5392842.html

Thanks for the link

dragovianknight and

elfgirl!

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