I'd come up with a subject line, but Siffy would want to make it new and hip.
Siffy is adorable. And not in the good way. Remember my bitchiness way back when Sci-Fi changed its name to SyFy Siffy, especially after I read their explanation as to how they were trying to remove the geeky connotations of the term "sci-fi" and appeal to a broader (i.e. not sci-fi geeks) audience? Well. Now they're changing the name of their sci-fi news site, Sci-fi Wire, to Blastr. Blastr joins such cutesy sister sites as DVICE and Fidget.
I might have been nominally okay with this, but a few things caught my eye:
* Their lengthy explanation as to why their new name is much better than the "old-fashioned and stodgy" moniker Sci-fi Wire.
* Also, this: "We've also talked astronomer and Discover Magazine writer Phil Plait into guest-blogging for us, to help us understand the science behind sci-fi. (And believe us, we can use all the help we can get.)" This statement amuses me more than it should. First of all, if they're going to have the poor man help them understand "the science behind sci-fi," I hope they are planning on talking about actual sci-fi and not shows that fit into their weird-ass definition of scififantasywrestingandotherstuff.
On the other hand, they are having David Hewlett guest blog. But I'm pretty sure he could have done that with the site still named "Sci-Fi Wire."
This may seem like a minor thing, but the renaming of all their sites accompanies a larger assault on the definition of science fiction. I am worn out by the constant misapplication of the label, as well as the urge to wash away any connotation that sci-fi might be enjoyed by those scary "sci-fi geeks." I'm a proud sci-fi geek, and it pisses me off that a network founded on the backs of people like me (melodramatic, I know--but I have a cold, so cope), wants to disassociate the network with "our kind."
I might have been nominally okay with this, but a few things caught my eye:
* Their lengthy explanation as to why their new name is much better than the "old-fashioned and stodgy" moniker Sci-fi Wire.
* Also, this: "We've also talked astronomer and Discover Magazine writer Phil Plait into guest-blogging for us, to help us understand the science behind sci-fi. (And believe us, we can use all the help we can get.)" This statement amuses me more than it should. First of all, if they're going to have the poor man help them understand "the science behind sci-fi," I hope they are planning on talking about actual sci-fi and not shows that fit into their weird-ass definition of scififantasywrestingandotherstuff.
On the other hand, they are having David Hewlett guest blog. But I'm pretty sure he could have done that with the site still named "Sci-Fi Wire."
This may seem like a minor thing, but the renaming of all their sites accompanies a larger assault on the definition of science fiction. I am worn out by the constant misapplication of the label, as well as the urge to wash away any connotation that sci-fi might be enjoyed by those scary "sci-fi geeks." I'm a proud sci-fi geek, and it pisses me off that a network founded on the backs of people like me (melodramatic, I know--but I have a cold, so cope), wants to disassociate the network with "our kind."