Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Behold: The original robot baby Rensemee. It’s been a while since we’ve talked Twilight – why kick the dead horse? But when something this horrifying emerges, you can’t just ignore it. (via)
I hope that doll is still around – it’ll be perfect for the ineventable horror remake/parody. And of course, the most important question: Better or worse than the felt womb?
Media. The cover of this week’s new issue of Entertainment Weekly is – surprise! – devoted to Star Wars. This means that anyone who hasn’t already heard about Episode VII will see it at the grocery story and pester us about it! Hooray!
Screenwriting. Curious about Michael Arndt? Scott Myers at Go into the Story has devoted a series of posts to his comments on screenwriting. (via)
Directors. We already figured this from his comments last week, but J.J. Abrams has out and out denied that he’s up for Episode VII. Please save all your lens flare jokes for Star Trek into Darkness.
Your moment of bwah. With the new (last?!?) Twilight movie encroaching, of course someone asked Robert Pattinson if he’d like to be in Star Wars. His answer? “Oh, absolutely. In a heartbeat.” Love or hate him, consider yourself warned. (via)
There’s been a lot of eyerolling and giggling about the fans who started lining up for Thursday’s Twilight panel on Monday – but it was all (mostly) in good fun. But things took a dark turn today. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that, in a rush to secure her place in line, the woman was crossing Harbor Drive against the light and hit by a SUV.
The Hollywood Reporter identified her as Twitter user @Mad4Hugh, who gives her name as Gisela G. UPDATE: Twilight fandom has set up a fund to help Gisela’s family with funeral expenses.
Comic-Con may very well be amazing – any con can be – but please remember to be safe! Nothing at SDCC, not even your place in line, is worth your life.
If you follow publishing news at all – or picked up last week’s Game of Thrones issue of Entertainment Weekly – you’ve probably heard about Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s a vanity-published erotic novel that’s sold more than 250,000 copies,and got author E L James a seven-figure book deal with Vintage, a division of Random House. It just became a a New York Times bestseller. So, yes, it’s incredibly popular.
It also started life as a Twilight alternate universe fanfic, something even major media have been picking up on.
Taking a fanfic and reworking it as an original piece is nothing new – I’m fairly sure one of my favorite space opera sagas started out as a Star Wars story way back in the day, for instance. Cassandra Clare and Naomi Novak may be the best known these days, but they were far from the first to cross over and go pro. It happens, and it’s been happening for a long time.
But it can strike an uncomfortable chord, particularly in cases such as this. Not because of the porn, per say, but because it skirts violating the most sacred – perhaps only – rule of fan fiction: Thou shall not make money off it. (Remember Lori Jareo?) And to boot, the incredible yet completely unsurprising success (yes, ladies do sometimes like porn, deal with it) of this particular case is shining a big, mainstream light on fan fiction in general… One I’m not sure the community wants or needs.
Given the deeply AU nature of her original fanfic, I think it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing James in court. But if the attention continues to spread to fan fiction and the community, if this just is the beginning of a trend, who knows what else will come to light? But only time will tell.
We continue to look back at 2011 by looking at interesting fandom happenings outside of Star Wars.
Continue reading “2011 in Review: Happenings in other fandoms”
Twilight snarkster Cleolinda, whose book recaps are much beloved of many Jaders, has recapped the franchise’s fourth film.
A Hunger Games fansite came across a flyer instructing projectionists to attach the Hunger Games trailer to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. While it makes perfect business sense to market Hunger Games to the Twilight audience, I’ve never been so thankful for the internet.
In other news, there’s a new photo of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen that, from her outfit, I’d guess dates from early in the film.
Coming to a Meijer near you… Twilight branded hair-styling tools. Includes an ‘Edward 1/2-Inch Hair Straightener.’ (Seriously!) Your move, Lucasfilm… Your move. (via)
Red Tails. MTV has a new trailer teaser for George Lucas and Anthony Hemingway’s upcoming World War II epic, as well as the first poster.
Harry Potter. Our pal Bryan Young got into Pottermore, and walks us through J.K. Rowling’s multimedia experience.
Comics! The Hairpin interviews Kate Beaton of Hark! A Vagrant, whose historic cartoons entertain history/literature nerds and plebeians alike.
Twilight. Bella’s wedding dress hasn’t even been revealed to the public yet, but the license to manufacture the Carolina Herrera-designed dress has been rewarded to Alfred Angelo, who will release it under the brand ‘Twilight Bridal by Alfred Angelo.’ (Does that mean there’ll be more?!?) The replica dress will be made in sizes 0 to 30W, sure to delight Twilight fans of all sizes.