Thank you, Gary, for addressing and responding to all of this kettle-brewing! I appreciate it greatly! I tend...towards not always being able to understand perceived and/or imagined machinations. :)
In an effort to survive in social media, Livejournal opened up it's platform to people being able to log in from their Facebook account. (as well as Twitter, Google Plus and Open ID)
If you sign out, and go to the log-in page, you should see the icons of those sites. Click on that and it will log you in under that account.
Since there was some discussion over the spreadsheet last night, I offer up some historical data to put this week's numbers in context; this is Idol over the past twenty weeks.
In fact, if you are so inclined, you'll be able to check this link in the future when a poll is up to see it update in real time, and in fact play with your votes as you see fit and see what it does to the spreadsheet's recordings of your votes.
Let me echo: it's just numbers. But I think it's not unhelpful to see how the yellow and red boxes have steadily grown as we've gone from 50 people to 5, and who it's been affecting more than others. All of this is an expected part of the game, as Gary notes; I draw no conclusions and again, simply present the data as it exists.
It's really interesting to watch the numbers shift over time. Though, I admit, I'm glad I didn't know about this while I was still a contestant. (I would F5 on the red lines too much as it was!)
... of course, now I'll have to go back over this season and see how my numbers (as far as they go) correspond to how I thought I wrote.
I probably should have been clearer in my initial comment about derivative works, since it was pointed out to me that sometimes, they do quite well!
It's entirely possible for something derivative to do well in Idol...in the early stages of the game. I believe the pieces that were referenced were all written before Week 10.
Once we get to the Top 50 or so-that's the point at which I would say that writing something derivative becomes a risky endeavor.
It's the same as with the serials-sure, people have done it, and have done well with it! But they're the exception that proves the rule, so to speak. Just because one person manages to pull it off does not mean that everyone who does it is going to manage to pull it off, especially when your odds of being eliminated are that much higher.
It's a risky venture at any point in the game. It is especially risky as the competition gets stiffer.
More generally, I think that you can replace fanfic or serials with anything that isn't sort of 'Idol Standard'. I think every season has a trend toward a type of entry that folks like to write / the audience likes to read. (It shifts from season to season, and it shifts with the audience.)
And while an entry should stand on its own feet, I think deviating from that norm does mean you're playing with fire ... no matter how well written your serialized slash autobiographical fanfic poetry may be. You have a lot of competition for attention out there, after all. (Well, okay, not so much at this point in the competition.)
Personally, I had the most fun with the meta-entries that were not, by anyone's metric, proper stories. And for the most part, the audience disagreed with me on that. :-) It's a risk one takes, though. (Besides, who wants to write the same thing over and over again?)
I hear a lot of "if you want to win Idol, or make it to the top [insert number here], then you need to follow these rules"-usually about length and whether or not you're writing a series. I broke the rules for length over and over again (because I am, at the heart of it, someone who blows raspberries at the idea of what they should do in a contest like this :) ), and I saw people "break the rules" for poetry and whatnot and get pretty far. I don't feel like there's really a "you must do this to get this far", and so when you say "Idol standard"-the idea of that galls me. But...
No one who started writing a series is left in the game. I mean, bleodswean has written a few things that are all set in the same coffee shop, but they're not really a "series" in the way that we damn things in Idol for being serials-each piece stands on its own and you don't need the full context to enjoy each piece
( ... )
Comments 66
Onward and upward!
Reply
Reply
If you sign out, and go to the log-in page, you should see the icons of those sites. Click on that and it will log you in under that account.
Reply
Reply
Our "Big Boss" is coming in to the office tomorrow to "talk to the managers about the move".
Which means we will find out if we are moving OR being let go...
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
In fact, if you are so inclined, you'll be able to check this link in the future when a poll is up to see it update in real time, and in fact play with your votes as you see fit and see what it does to the spreadsheet's recordings of your votes.
Let me echo: it's just numbers. But I think it's not unhelpful to see how the yellow and red boxes have steadily grown as we've gone from 50 people to 5, and who it's been affecting more than others. All of this is an expected part of the game, as Gary notes; I draw no conclusions and again, simply present the data as it exists.
Reply
... of course, now I'll have to go back over this season and see how my numbers (as far as they go) correspond to how I thought I wrote.
... once I get a home game entry written.
Reply
It's entirely possible for something derivative to do well in Idol...in the early stages of the game. I believe the pieces that were referenced were all written before Week 10.
Once we get to the Top 50 or so-that's the point at which I would say that writing something derivative becomes a risky endeavor.
It's the same as with the serials-sure, people have done it, and have done well with it! But they're the exception that proves the rule, so to speak. Just because one person manages to pull it off does not mean that everyone who does it is going to manage to pull it off, especially when your odds of being eliminated are that much higher.
It's a risky venture at any point in the game. It is especially risky as the competition gets stiffer.
Reply
And while an entry should stand on its own feet, I think deviating from that norm does mean you're playing with fire ... no matter how well written your serialized slash autobiographical fanfic poetry may be. You have a lot of competition for attention out there, after all. (Well, okay, not so much at this point in the competition.)
Personally, I had the most fun with the meta-entries that were not, by anyone's metric, proper stories. And for the most part, the audience disagreed with me on that. :-) It's a risk one takes, though. (Besides, who wants to write the same thing over and over again?)
Reply
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
*wipes eyes*
*wanders away*
*continues to be amused*
Reply
No one who started writing a series is left in the game. I mean, bleodswean has written a few things that are all set in the same coffee shop, but they're not really a "series" in the way that we damn things in Idol for being serials-each piece stands on its own and you don't need the full context to enjoy each piece ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Reply
A woman has won Seasons 1-8, Exhibit A and co-winner of Exhibit B.
Take a look at the remaining 6. The LJ Sisterhood has once again ensured their victory!!
Reply
Of course it's a conspiracy. Nothing to do with the fact that lj is predominantly populated by women. ;)
Reply
Leave a comment