forget your Unified Theory of Everything

previous parts
PG-13, Angel, Spike, Illyria, Nina, and a puppy

-I had to split this chapter in 2 parts as apparently it was too long. Oddly, I cut a lot of stuff out to try to keep it at posting length.
( further notes on this fic that you don't need to read )

( Man's Best Friend, 4 )

part 4b

This actually has nothing to do with the recent drama.

I have a confession to make. I'm a genius. But I'm really tragically stupid also.

( THINGS ON LIVEJOURNAL I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND. )

In other news, The Sound of Music in Sparta. (link courtesy imnotacommittee.)

None of this stuff is credited. If you would like to be credited or for me to remove you from this post, will do pronto. If you would like to use something from this post I will try to find where I got it so you can credit the creator just like I didn't.

( Yeah but the best part of waiting for lj to explain shit was pictures, you guys. Cut for heavy graphics. )

A Guide Organized In Ascending Order Of Requisite Activation Energy

Get counted. Aside from all the drama, this is interesting in an abstract, statistical sense: "how big is fandom, really?" Stand and be counted here. No strings attached, just a head count of members of fandom on livejournal.

Take this poll. Similarly statistically interesting, but also possibly useful in determining how loud our voice might be, is "how much do we as fandom spend on lj?" Take this poll, again, no strings, just a count.

Boycott. If you're upset about what's happening, one of the most important things you might do is something you've been meaning to do for always: save your money. Don't renew accounts, buy virtual gifts, more icons, or a permanent account next month. Cancel automatic payments.

Sign petitions. The least you can do is sign your name to a petition. I'm not actually sure how much this does, but it's something to do. here are some.

List your complaint. Similar to signing a petition, you can leave a specific complaint here for Livejournal administrators and stuff to see. Many people are mentioning dissatisfaction as customers, and resolve not to give 6A/LJ money for accounts, gifts, and features.

Stay informed. You can do this by joining comms such as innocence_jihad, fandompays, reasonedspeech. Also keep your eyes on metafandom and fandom_lawyers. Personally, I got an acount at GreatestJournal and joined the comm fandomtossed.

Email your complaint. (See below as to why this option is less effective than the next step up). Some form letters for your emails are here, here, and here.
Send these to feedback@livejournal.com or privacy@livejournal.com.

Pick up the phone. I'm inclined to believe two things I've garnered from reading up on this: 1. Six Apart is the company behind Livejournal, and it would be more effective to contact that company. 2. It would be more effective to contact Six Apart by phone than through email. Here's how.

ACT. It's being expressed all over that fandom has power, both insofar as number of heads and financial contribution. Maybe we do. Maybe if we do the things on this list, we can make a difference in regards to the actions of Six Apart and Livejournal. Maybe if we all stand up and walk out, singing Alice's Restaurant, Six Apart will see that even if their advertisers pay them more, their advertisers are there in the first place because fandom comprises such a large number of users. I don't know.

What I do know is that fandom has power as a culture (as I found best expressed here). We may not be effective enough to unsettle Six Apart. We may not be strong enough to present a serious threat to something like Fanlib. But we are strong and effective enough to organize, speak out, fight back, and persevere.

As much as the cynic in me wants to sit back and say, "nothing we do is going to make any difference", I'm not going to do that, because fandom is about all about having a voice. Even if it doesn't get heard, we need to use it, and use it until it's hoarse and then use it some more. There's no point in self-expression if you don't self-express.

eta: What I mean is, think about who we are, what we are, and what we can do. Examples of this kind of thought and suggestions for more action are here, here, and here.

GUYS. rahirah wrote B/A. The internets are going to implode. Spuffy fen will disown her. Get me a bowl of ice cream as I watch apocalypse. And post Spuffy smut (she called me out).

Reprise
Spuffy, NC-17, post NFA, snippet
( Cut to spare the B/A sensibilities of...okay, maybe 30% of my flist. Also, I think it uh, rhymes. What's up with that? )

I Netflixed the BBC Masterpiece Theatre 2006 adaptation of Jane Eyre, starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens. It was on two disks, so I had to get them separately. I watched each twice on the same night before parting from them and now I've bought it from Amazon. I've seen about five other adaptations of Jane Eyre (Cirian Hinds, William Hurt, Timothy Dalton, George C Scott, Orson Welles as Rochesters) and none come even close to this in the slightest. It captures so much of what I love about the book.

Jane Eyre changed my life. That sounds corny, melodramatic, a little pitiful, and strangely lacking in healthy priorities, but I've always felt it to be true. I was fourteen when I read it and I never felt alone again after that. To have it now with pretty people (eta: um. Which I should have a problem with, as the people in JE are not supposed to be pretty. They are in this, gorgeous, but what I meant was well-acted and well-scripted and that. Anyways, they *act* like they are not beautiful, and not in the She's All That way, in the seriously lacking confidence or being gruff way, and that's what matters to me here) to look at is . . . really a dream come true. Which sounds corny and all that other stuff all over again; it's hard to fathom how this could mean so much to me. But it really does.

Anyway, what sucks is I don't know where to talk about this online. Although I've spent the past two years with Buffyverse, I've often slipped away by cover of night to poke around other fandoms like BSG or Beauty and the Beast or Harry/Draco but I can never quite figure, in both the big and tiny fandoms, where the PEOPLE are. There's not a community-feeling like I feel like I have with my (mostly Buffyverse) flist, where lots of people know each other, like each other, respect each other, and talk about things (/Margaret Dashwood). I mean really! How do you go about finding a place in a new fandom? I know this is an age old quandary, a topic of much debate and meta, but how do you go about it?

And where oh where is Jane Eyre's www.pemberley.com?

Does anyone know the word limit for posts on lj?

( I love . . . )

That is all I have for now.

Prompt from jgracio won the poll: Angel buys a puppy. It might also be the Angel-falls-for-Spike fic, who the hell knows.

Angel, Spike, Illyria, Nina, and a puppy, post NFA, PG.

( Man's Best Friend )

femmenerd is writing Buffy/Sam Winchester, with Buffy on top, all down this thread (ETA: Full version here). This girl's writing makes my mouth water. I don't even watch SPN.