Weekend Round-Up: this one got long
Jan. 19th, 2019 01:31 pmReading:
Just like everyone else, I was super excited to grab![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
astolat's neat bookmarklet which automates quoting posts in a Dreamwidth entry, and then use it to signalboost the post in which it appears:
astolat posted: SignalBoost bookmarklet
There's a great conversation going on at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fictional_fans about fic summaries--what works to grab readers and what really doesn't. This is a good comm to follow for general fandom-related conversations, and definitely has the kind of critical mass that most DW comms don't really at the moment.
fictional_fans posted: summaries
I recently tripped over this really helpful guide to using HTML in your Dreamwidth posts, from which I have stolen the horizontal bar dividers in this post! I gotta say, one of my favorite things about Dreamwidth is jumping back into the pre-Web 2.0 world of threaded comments and manual HTML. It feels so comfortable, like a nice warm bubble bath. I have to keep up a Twitter & Instagram presence as part of my professional life, and I really struggle with both of those platforms--never sure what the etiquette is or what I should be taking pictures of! I much prefer noodling around with text and formatting like it's 2003 again and I'm making a Geocities website in computer lab.
sylvaine posted: HTML Basics for Dreamwidth Posts
Great breakdown of the many common issues with (particularly TV, but also other forms of) media representation of het relationships. Straight culture is weird.
melannen posted: Thoughts on canon het
Some really interesting thoughts on the semantic qualities of whisperspace (i.e., footnotes or Tumblr-style "talking in the tags"):
greywash posted: but what does whisperspace mean to YOU?
Watching:
Still chugging through The Magicians season 2! I was hoping to catch up in time for Season 4 to start airing next week, but that seems unlikely to happen, especially since the semester just started for me and I have an insane number of commitments this semester (teaching two classes I've never taught before, editorial responsibilities, & coursework!).
I also caught Annihilation last night. Verdict: great performances (especially from Natalie Portman and Gina Rodriguez), some very cool visual motifs, and a total lack of coherent or effective storytelling. I was zero percent surprised to find out that it was written and directed by the same guy who did Ex Machina, which I also hugely disliked. At one point around midway through Annihilation, my wife and I turned to each other and said to one another, 'oh my god, whoever wrote this dialogue should be shot.' It's awful! I can complain more specifically and at much more length about the many, many problems with this movie, so please hit me up in the comments if that's a conversation you'd like to have.
Just like everyone else, I was super excited to grab
astolat's neat bookmarklet which automates quoting posts in a Dreamwidth entry, and then use it to signalboost the post in which it appears:astolat posted: SignalBoost bookmarkletOkay, here is the little bookmarklet -- it's pretty limited, but it serves my own laziness, so I share it FWIW and if anyone has the time and wants to upgrade it, go for it and drop me a comment and I'll (ha ha) signal boost any new versions!
There's a great conversation going on at
fictional_fans about fic summaries--what works to grab readers and what really doesn't. This is a good comm to follow for general fandom-related conversations, and definitely has the kind of critical mass that most DW comms don't really at the moment.fictional_fans posted: summariesWhat makes for a good fic summary? Is there anything that can get you to click when you might otherwise not have been inclined to?
Conversely, what types of summaries do you like least? Are there summaries that will make you skip a work even if it's tagged with all of your favorite ships and tropes?
I recently tripped over this really helpful guide to using HTML in your Dreamwidth posts, from which I have stolen the horizontal bar dividers in this post! I gotta say, one of my favorite things about Dreamwidth is jumping back into the pre-Web 2.0 world of threaded comments and manual HTML. It feels so comfortable, like a nice warm bubble bath. I have to keep up a Twitter & Instagram presence as part of my professional life, and I really struggle with both of those platforms--never sure what the etiquette is or what I should be taking pictures of! I much prefer noodling around with text and formatting like it's 2003 again and I'm making a Geocities website in computer lab.
sylvaine posted: HTML Basics for Dreamwidth PostsI'm writing this basically because I hear from everyone using it that the real text editor is terrible and also because I'm hoping that less people using it means less weirdly formatted entries on my reading page. The beta entry page is brilliant and I think using it will be a happy-making choice for most people, but I also understand that HTML can be an intimidating prospect, so I will try to make that a little bit less so!
Great breakdown of the many common issues with (particularly TV, but also other forms of) media representation of het relationships. Straight culture is weird.
melannen posted: Thoughts on canon hetFirst, here are many, many ways that canon screws up canon het:
Some really interesting thoughts on the semantic qualities of whisperspace (i.e., footnotes or Tumblr-style "talking in the tags"):
greywash posted: but what does whisperspace mean to YOU?I think it was out_there (though—correct me if I'm misremembering) who brought up ye olde footnote style of whisperspace, which was/is big especially in fandoms like Good Omens where footnotes are used in the original source as a tone-shifted aside. And I think that those two things—"tone-shifted" and "an aside"—are a big part of it . . .
Watching:
Still chugging through The Magicians season 2! I was hoping to catch up in time for Season 4 to start airing next week, but that seems unlikely to happen, especially since the semester just started for me and I have an insane number of commitments this semester (teaching two classes I've never taught before, editorial responsibilities, & coursework!).
I also caught Annihilation last night. Verdict: great performances (especially from Natalie Portman and Gina Rodriguez), some very cool visual motifs, and a total lack of coherent or effective storytelling. I was zero percent surprised to find out that it was written and directed by the same guy who did Ex Machina, which I also hugely disliked. At one point around midway through Annihilation, my wife and I turned to each other and said to one another, 'oh my god, whoever wrote this dialogue should be shot.' It's awful! I can complain more specifically and at much more length about the many, many problems with this movie, so please hit me up in the comments if that's a conversation you'd like to have.
