Post by Akbar Le Grey on Sept 24, 2006 9:40:29 GMT -5
September 24th – October 1st.
Editor-in-Chief: Akbar Le Grey.
Sub-editor: Linda.
Columnists: Libitina, Sixteen, Sora, Wasabi, J., Kimia, Tess.
Published by 667er Publications, ltd.
A subsidiary of the 667er Group.
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The past couple of months or so have seen quite an increase in the amount of stories in Fearsome Fiction. In fact, Fearsome Fiction has now surpassed Chaotic Creativity in the amount of recent creative works. Dupin, moderator of FFiction, has this to say about the rebirth of his board: “I think writers on 667 will always produce high quality fanfictions, and as we get closer to the new books, or indeed after them, we usually get a lot of them, so I'm looking forward to that. It's interesting to see different people's takes on certain events, especially the upcoming books, so I always enjoy reading people’s versions of 'The End', or whatever book is [coming] out soon at the time”
This increase in fanfiction is almost definitely due in part to the approach of Lemony Snicket’s final book, and many of the recent stories reflect this, taking place during the events of The End and predicting what may happen. RockSunner’s story, The Extraneous End, seems to be the most popular of the “The End” fanfiction. However, there are still quite a few other types of fanfiction, from Skeleton Key’s dark and morbid tales to Quigley/Violet and Duncan/Violet shipping to humorous parodies to songfics, and even a few stories guessing at the relationship between Lemony and Beatrice.
Although several of these stories are written by old veterans of FFiction such as Skeleton Key and RockSunner, the majority of the new stories are being written by authors that are fairly new to 667. Some of the most prolific include Tigerclaw, Edgar, snicketfan4ever, thistledown, Jenny, and the most prominent, Phoebonica – all of whom have joined 667 in the past six months. Even captainspam, a member who appears to have deleted himself shortly after joining, wrote a story in FF.
It is nearly impossible not to compare the current state of FFiction to the way it used to be. In the past, FFiction was home to dark fanfiction that is still remembered and talked about to this day. Are these current stories as good as the older ones were?
Phoebonica, who was recently awarded the Member of the Month award, has this to say about the stories: “A lot of the stories in there at the moment are quite same-y. It all seems to be either angsty romance or fluffy romance or melodramatic plots that don't really make sense. Not that people don't have the right to be angsty or fluffy or melodramatic, just... I think the problem is people don't think about characterisation. There's nothing wrong with a story about, say, Violet developing schizophrenia* but it needs to be a story about Violet and not about the way schizophrenic people act in made-for-TV movies. (I'm not talking about anyone specific here, this is just a general criticism, so anyone who's written schizophrenic!Violet fic, don't think I'm getting at you, because I'm not.) I don't think that problem's confined to 667, though, or even to ASOUE fanfics.”
Some of the stories aren’t the greatest, but a lot of the authors are writing things for the first time and are still learning. And a few of the stories are extremely well done. My current favorites would have to be “Our Final Curtain” by Phoebonica and “The Extraneous End” by RockSunner. And Phoebonica has a few favorites too: “I like Jenny, because her stories are always well thought out and in character. ‘Red Paint’, for example, could easily have seemed melodramatic but it wasn't, because the way she wrote it made sense. Nightlark's ‘Her Daughter's Eyes’ was good too.” And, she adds, “both of those two have good spelling and grammar and obviously proofread their writing before they post it, which is more important than a lot of people seem to think.”
As The End draws near, the sad fact remains that many of these fanfictions are probably going to be contradicted by canon and become outdated. But that hasn’t happened yet. For now, we can afford to forget about that and just enjoy the new creative works, and magnificent rebirth, of FFiction.
-Linda.
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J’s Lede about Rants
OK, so I was gonna write a satirical article one week late for the lawls, but then I realized I don't know what I write, so I can't satire myself. D: So, as usual, I have nothing to write, but I am going to write, anyway.
So, looking at the past couple of 667ers I wrote for, I realized that I do two things: Rants and ledes. Sounds like a dog food. Or a children's game. Hmm...
Anyway, I was writing a rant about SVU and Mac commercials but Akbar said that the 667er is not for my own self-centered purposes. (Then how the hell did my rants go through, Editor-Man?!) So I made a thread for my article. And what's-her-name with the lobotomy girl was trying to uh...I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention.
Anyway, now for the real point of my article: my article. I'm going to do a lede on rants!
Rants are very popular. Every week or so, there's a rant that's published in the 667er. Why are they so popular? That's the question I am going to answer and investigate this week.
Rants have been around since that comedian, Dennis Miller. Oooh, I haven't seen him in a long time. I hope The Colbert Report has infinite fame.
Anyway, the rant was invented by the Greeks, were picked up thousands of years later by Dennis Miller, and popularized by PJ.
THE END.
-J.
Wasabi’s Rant
Well, the last week of school has been hectic. Monday was fine. Tuesday was fine. Wednesday was fine. Thursday was not fine. It was speech day. I was doing a speech on Languages. I knew it well, but I’m the greatest person at dealing with nervousness. I went up in front of the camera (that was going to record us) and then said my speech. But, of course, during it my mind had to blank out. I had forgotten the third paragraph and I was looking like a damsel in distress. I just hate having to be up there for three minutes, and having everyone stare at you. Luckily, the English teachers that were assessing us were kind enough to prompt me. Still, I never forgot all my gestures and I also remembered all my speech without any cue-cards, which was a first. After I had completed my speech, I could breathe.
Friday was worse. In Math, I had a Geometric reasoning test. And, as always, I am the greatest mathematician in the world and got an Excellence. Not! I really hope that I can pass all my Math exams this year in NCEA. I have had to re-sit all my tests this year; although I am proud of myself, because I have managed to achieve all of my numeracy, which is necessary to pass Level One. After interval, I had French, in which I had to complete an oral (that only lasted one minute, thank God). Although the most nerve racking thing is that the talk has to be recorded on a CD so that it can be sent away to Wellington and marked as well as my teacher marking it. She is so technologically challenged that she has a tape recorder and laptop going, so that if the laptop does not record then the cassette player would have done the job. We were allowed to take our scripts in as a reference, so I didn’t feel that bad after all. Then came Science. Well. I can tell you that I was writing profusely for the whole period. I just hope that next term I pass my Science and French assessments.
So, now, it’s holiday time. I am studying all holidays because the exams are only 6 weeks away. I am really hopeful and capable of doing well in these exams. I also hope to enter Music Cup. I am going to try doing a singing solo and duet in it this year, in place of the piano solo that I have been doing for the last three years. Until then, I will be doing well in exams and hopefully achieving grades to the best of my ability.
With all due respect,
-Wasabi.
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The 667er: Welcome, Brownie/Prewrite/other username you may decide to use. Thank you for joining us.
Brownie: You are very welcome, I go by Brownie now though. Unless my nickname changes soon.
The 667er: How are you today?
Brownie: I feel pretty tired today, because, yesterday, I talked to a bunch of 667ers on MSN till 4 AM.
The 667er: Why did you change your username to Brownie? Do you want 667ers to eat you, or were you just hungry?
Brownie: Ummm, Brownie is my nickname; there was a typo on my nametag. Or at least it looked like one to Jasemine from far away.
The 667er: So your actual name looks like the word brownie?
Brownie: Brennan. Yeah; at least, my friends think so. Do you?
The 667er: In a sense. When did you find 667?
Brownie: I was looking for Penultimate Peril news and I basically lurked your site till last July, when I joined.
The 667er: How would you describe your status on 667?
Brownie: A
The 667er: Do you spam on purpose?
Brownie: No. Well, a little bit. Sorry guys...
The 667er: Shame on you. What are your hobbies outside of 667?
Brownie: Music, Piano, being Non-Goth (stupid 4th graders!), hanging out with my friends.
The 667er: You know gothic fourth-graders? That's pretty snazzy.
Brownie: No, there's this fourth grader that calls anyone who wears balck goth and it annoys the (censored) poo out of me..
The 667er: Even those Portuguese ladies whose husbands have died?
Brownie: P’rolly, yeah.
The 667er: That's terrible. What kind of music do you like?
Brownie: Do you know?
The 667er: Why would I ask if I knew?
Brownie: You know my favorite band!!!
The 667er: You like those No Doubt fellows, right?
Brownie: Yeah. Only, Gwen's a lady. I like rock, hip hop, and pop. Alternative 4EVER!!! Wow; when I said Gwen an ND song came on.
The 667er: That's pretty magic. Do you ever use the word chill? As in, we're not chill enough so nobody sits at our table for lunch.
Brownie: No, I don't think so.
The 667er: Oh. Well then. What songs do you play on the piano?
Brownie: Harry Potter, Chicago, eyc. If I had an ND book I'd play their songs.
The 667er: I love the Harry Potter music! We played it in band a few years ago.
Brownie: Lucky. I play clarinet in band.
The 667er: Do you like that?
Brownie: Yes.
The 667er: Thanks for joining us!
Brownie: Welcome, bye.
-Libitina.
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Really Short And Hurried Article
by Sixteen
This article is very late and even now I'm in a rush to write it.
Not much happened this week. We got a new Vile Video. It was basically a lot of old clips put together to make an anti-advertisement for the books. A triangle was seen in the first video with the leters TCB vertically alongside it. I hadn't mentioned this because at the time it seemed random and irrelevant. But in Video #2 we saw another triangle which was clearly edited in. It has three rows of letters. From the top: W, CA, EAT. So we're waiting for the third movie now to find out what must be the remainder of a hidden message. It's been suggested that the next letters will make the message spell out "Two (or Twins) Called Beatrice".
Um, nothing more I can think of that was very major. So, sorry about the length and quality of this again. Sláinte.
-Sixteen.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!
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In Seven thousand and eighty seconds
How do you measure the creativity of movie musical?
By Sora
Ah, another musical-movie. Was the world ready for another one so soon after the Producers? I wasn't, but I took the plunge, and watched the movie adaptation of the Jonathan Larson musical, RENT.
I myself am a musical buff, having seen many both live and on the silver screen. RENT was a new experience, however, and I was pleasantly surprised. Not since The Rocky Horror Picture Show have I seen a musical address so many issues, REAL issues, within its songs and scenes. The movie focuses on the surge of AIDS victims of the 1980s and 90s, and lives led by those with the disease and those who are just trying to keep on living in New York City. The movie stars some new celebs, like Rosario Dawson as Mimi, and some of the old cast of the Broadway production.
All in all, it was a good flick; but one has to admit that the songs every three minutes did get rather tiresome. The plot didn't progress well in the film, and some of the characters could have been developed more. The film's main characters? Mimi, a stripper with a drug addiction; Roger, a recovering junkie who's trying to make a song; Mark, a documentary boy who’s been dumped for a lesbian; Angel, a transsexual AIDS victim, and his lover Colin; and the two lesbian lovers, Maureen and Joanne, who are as different as the earth and the sea. All the characters flow well into one another, and the story follows their journey over 'five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.’
The movie opens with a great rendition of Seasons of Love, and then falls into the plot, Mark and Roger are struggling to pay last year's rent and find that without paying it they'll be evicted by one of their old friends, Benjamin. The cast sings the woes away, and sets out to burn screenplays and eviction notices and throw them out the window. As you do.
From this point on, the singing gets rather tiresome. And the plot doesn't make much sense. Don't people who are renting a house HAVE to pay rent every year? Is that not that what you sign up for on your contract? I reckon it’s their own fault they can’t pay; don’t blame some dude who’s just tryin’ to earn an honest buck.
We then meet Mimi and Angel and their lovely whacked out personalities. Did anyone get what Angel was trying to say in her 10 minutes intro diddy? Did she get paid to kill a dog for some old woman? What? Did she explain she was a male prostitute, because that is what my mum reckoned. It would make sense for why he/she is the only one with cash.
Then we meet the lesbian lovers: Maureen, who used to date Mark, and Joanne, an African American lawyer. Another number, and no advance of plot. We see a rather peculiar anti-cyber world show done by Maureen, that featured cows, and left this writer confused and slightly bemused. Then they get their arses busted by the big P, and end up at a cafe, where once again they sing heir woes away, this time to a La Vie Boheme!
The plot does pick up, mainly with the love songs of Roger and Mimi, Angel and Collins and Joanne and Maureen. The AIDS side of the thing develops as well, which I think is a really well thought out issue to address in a musical, as well as……you know. Take a guess people.
The movie ends well, and it does have you shedding a tear along the way. It may not have been the best film adaptation, but, hey, I RENTed it so, I guess they did well enough.
Peace Out till next week (Will it be Monster House, Stormbreaker, Talladega Nights, another Disney Channel movie that sucks? Who knows?)
Rating: 8 out of 10
-Sora.
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KIMIA WRITES ABOUT HER EXPEREINCE AT THE ANTI-BLAIR MARCH[/u][/size]
It's true when they say that Manchester is the meaning of revolution, and not to mention diversity. Today, an estimated 20,000 (twenty thousand!) people, including me, took part in a march against Blair and Bush, for Tony Blair had come to Manchester for a Labour Party conference in the city.
I think it's fair to say that today was the most exciting day of my life. I've never felt so alive, or involved. We marched for about three hours all the way through Manchester city-centre and all the time I was one of the loudest shouters, because most people were singing anti-Blair songs as well as waving banners around, and I made sure my mother and I walked with the group of people who sang the loudest, because I soon became a part of them.
Some of the songs we sang repetitively included:
One, two, three, four!
We don't want no bloody war!
Five, six, seven, eight!
This is why we demonstrate!
*
[In the tune of Yellow Submarine]
We all live in a terrorist country!
A terrorist country!
A terrorist country!
*
[In the tune of Frère Jacques]
Bush and Blair, Bush and Blair,
Stop the war, stop the war.
Killing all the people, killing all the children,
Stop it now. Stop it now.
*
If you want Blair to go, clap your hands!
[clap, clap]
If you want Blair to go, clap your hands!
[clap, clap]
If you want the troops home, stamp your feet!
[stamp, stamp]
If you want the troops home, stamp your feet!
[stamp, stamp]
If you think Bush is a cowboy, think Bush is a cowboy say "Yee-Haw!"
"Yee-Haw!"
If you think Blair’s a poodle, think Blair’s a poodle say "Woof woof!"
"Woof woof!"
*
What do we want?
TROOPS OUT!
When do we want it?
NOW!
*
This is what democracy looks like!
This is what democracy feels like!
*
Tony Blair?
TERRORIST!
George Bush?
TERRORIST!
*
Say "Hey!"
HEY!
Say "Ho!"
HO!
TONY BLAIR HAS TO GO!
*
Power to the people!
And because I was singing for about two hours and fifty five minutes of the three hour-march, my throat is quite dry now and I don't appear to have much of an appetite.
People of all races, religions, heights, weights, ages and backgrounds had joined the protest, and I think it's quite fair to say that I fell in love with just about every one of them, and realised that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Shirt and sign mottos included "[picture of Bush and Blair] DUMB AND DUMBER", "TIME TO GO", "[Labour Party logo] BLIAR", "[Bush] WORLD'S #1 TERRORIST" and someone even made a huge, life-size bone with something about Blair being Bush's poodle written on it.
Basically, it was very exciting. We marched and shouted and marched and at one point, everybody (keep in mind that that was about twenty thousand of us) sat down on the huge main road in protest, and a lot of people had fake-blood inked all over them. After the march, we spent about an hour listening to important anti-Blair people like Tony Benn, George Galloway and Tommy Sheridan, and even a journalist who was actually related to Tony Blair but was ashamed of him.
They're showing this event on the News as I type! If you see a dark-haired girl wearing a sky-blue top and a purple bead necklace and holding her cardigan and a bottle of water, shouting along with the anti-Blair songs, know that it's me!
-Kimia.
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Okay. Tess’s Thoughts is back. For now. There’s something worth writing about.
Brownie.
Let’s see. Someone who instantly thinks they’re in with the crowd, that they’re popular? Remind you of anyone? Hmm, let’s think. Wasabi, maybe? Now, in no way am I implying that they are the same person. They’re just cut from the same mold. Long-lost siblings, perhaps, or something else? Who knows. All I know is they’re too similar for comfort.
Short one, I know, but I threw this together in about five seconds so Akbar, you owe me.
-Tess.
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Hi, everyone.
I hope you all enjoyed last week’s issue. I, personally, thought it was fabulous, and am really thankful to everyone who helped with it. (:
Well, wow, I’ve been publishing this for over a year now. From size 50 text saying The 667er to banners malfunctioning all the time; from begging for articles to the infamous 667er Group; from having tons of staff members as writers to creating scandals and dramas about swans; the magazine’s been through, and done, a lot. It’s been involved in balls, contests; all sorts of things. It’s had writers both infamous and anonymous; articles horrendous and simply fantastic. But now, looking back, it’s truly become a part of 667. And I think we’d all like to keep it that way. So keep reading; keep writing; keep commenting. Keep being 667.
Everyone who’s every written for the magazine: well, you know we <3 you. <3<3<3
I know this isn’t a very good cheesy anniversary editorial, but still. I’m sorry; I have a headache, Pakistani Ramazan starts tomorrow, and I want to go talk to Tess now. I know this is a short issue, but all the articles are pretty good. So, enjoy. (:
Peace out,
Akbar.
P.S: Sorry for the publication delay; there's been a major power breakdown. 75% of the country is without electricity, so even though my generator's been working, my ISP's been on the blink all day.
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Complaint about Tess's Thoughts
Tess's little "complaint" was very hurtful. To both me and Wasabi. I hope she dies very soon. -cries- Sorry for being 'to similar for comfort' Tess. She makes me want to be emo. And Goth. And Cut my wrists. You're mean. Never try to talk to me again. I hope that Bin Laden murdurs you. YOU ARE HITLER. Please leave this site very soon. You are unwanted here. -slitswristanddiesandcries-
-Brownie.
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