The Revived 667er - Edition Twelve
Feb 1, 2016 14:28:23 GMT -5
Cafe SalMONAlla, B., and 3 more like this
Post by MisterM on Feb 1, 2016 14:28:23 GMT -5
Original idea by Akbar Le Grey
Editor - Mister M
Co-Editor - Anka Anwhistle M
Designer - Lemona Snicket
Historian - Linda Rhaldeen
Gawky Guy - Charlie Snicket
Editor - Mister M
Co-Editor - Anka Anwhistle M
Designer - Lemona Snicket
Historian - Linda Rhaldeen
Gawky Guy - Charlie Snicket
Thanks This Issue to : Anka Anwhistle M, Bee, Comet,
Akbar Le Grey, Linda Rhaldeen, Charlie Snicker, Lemona Snicket
Akbar Le Grey, Linda Rhaldeen, Charlie Snicker, Lemona Snicket
So Welcome to the first 667er of 2016! It seems mad that i've been editing this for a whole year already (My first issue came out exactly one year today, so woooo). But as this is the start of a new year for both me and the 667er, there have been some changes made to the 667er.
First of all, we have some changes of staff. Charlie is back! providing us with all the gawkiness and k-pop you could possibly need. And Linda is now one of the staff, because she already does great work with the History of 667, and as if that was enough work already she starts a further two additional articles this month.
Speaking of new articles, there are several new ones this month. Coming up first, Bee looks back on the happenings on 667 this past month, Anka has a 667 ABC, and Sophie has.. something. I don't even know what yet, but something. There is also an in depth interview with a 667er, and a countdown of the 667 greatest 667 threads of all time.
And where there are new articles there are new banners. And where there weren't new articles, new banners were made anyway. Yes, huge praise goes toward Lemona for doing tons of great work making, like, 15 new banners this month. And they are awesome. So well done Lemona!
But okay, I will stop going on now and start the issue!
- Mister M
~-//-~
Hi I’m Bee, and for the (hopefully) foreseeable future I will be doing a column summarising the events of the month and providing commentary on them. This shall creatively be known as (unless MisterM or someone else from the team comes up with a better name) ‘The Month.’
There has been a bunch of new news about the upcoming ASOUE tv show this month, such as rumours about who’s playing the leads, people leaving the project, the news that Violet and Klaus have been cast, and most importantly the announcement the Neil Patrick Harris would play Count Olaf. People had mixed reactions to this, but I believe it can be summed up most accurately by Willis who said it was a 'Very Funny Decision'. Personally, I haven’t actually seen anything that NPH has been in, so I’m pretty open minded to his portrayal. I did, however, mention that it might cause me to have a crush on Count Olaf- Dante advised me not to. Because we all know I actually just have a crush on Dante, right?!
Speaking of Dante, there was also an announcement in which he finally got his hands (Edit: No, no he didn't. I've been reliably informed by the man himself that he just found pictures on ebay - M) on the holy grail of rare Lemony Snicket items: The Baby in the Manger. (No not an actual baby…) People also posted pictures of their ASOUE collections, proving that there are quite a few strong contenders for this year’s Most S.A.D (Serious And Devoted)/Most Lemony/Unfortunate/Dante darkie.
In general miscellaneous forum goings on, there isn’t really much to report. A few nostalgia threads (for me at least) were briefly bumped. There was also an interesting debate about karma, and Bandit got called out on his general terrible-ness a bit in the books thread. Sophie also started a (kind of) Allen meme, I think.
Larlie won member of the month, and then subsequently the Member of the Year voting was held, which turned out interestingly, to say the least. When I volunteered to post the announcement I didn’t even remember that I’d won MOTM, and didn’t think I would win the voting anyway. I would like to reiterate my gratitude towards everybody who voted, and all the kind sentiments expressed. In my life I have done a lot of controversial and dumb stuff. I once pursued a person whom I shouldn’t have because they were in a position of authority over me. I also once demolished a person’s reputation because they had sexually harassed my friend for months. I’ve done and said my fair share of silly things and ridiculous decisions on 667 over the years too, but I don’t believe the decision to decline MOTY falls amongst them. You see, it isn’t always about the awards, the runner’s up or the nominees. Sometimes these things are really just a popularity contest, and sometimes an opportunity to instead reflect on the meaningful contributions of all during 2015. That is what I hope to do, and continue to do this year.
Upcoming (or possibly has happened by now) is the 667er Penthouse Party special which you should all make sure to attend. That’s all for now, folks.
A while ago I had the idea to make an ABC of 667, mostly for new people, to explain things they might wonder about. And now I thought I could also put it here. It might be a bit boring for people who aren't new (and sometimes even for people who are, because there isn't something interesting for all letters). Also if anyone has an idea for a word or a name that I could use, you can of course tell me. Especially if you know something with letters like Q or X... It should be people or things that new members don't notice at the start, or don't know where the idea came from, but are still relevant.
So let's start with A.
Antenora: Antenora has been a member of 667 since 2004 and is one of our best Snicketologists. She isn't online much now, but sometimes she turns up and makes posts, especially when there is anything new happening in the Snicket section, and also when it's time to make a birthday present for Daniel Handler, where she normally works together with Dante to come up with ideas. They are a good team and have also won the Best Pairing award in last year's Darkies.
#1 - The Drama Queens Club
So, this is the start of a new monthly attempt to find the 667 greatest 667 threads! These aren't in any particular order, they are simply all the best. I don't know where this idea exactly came from, but I asked Linda to do find a thread each month, she decided on the number. She also said this
'I didn't do any archive digging this month so that was not a very old one. Next month when I do my History column I can start collecting some old good ones.'
So 1) She isn't doing the history column this month. But don't worry, there is something else
2) Here is the thread
asoue.proboards.com/thread/34151/drama-queens-club
Enjoy!
Okay no, I'm not Pandora. Pandora didn't do power rankings this month. But okay, I guess it isn't really her fault completely. I mentioned it yesterday in the penthouse, but I don't think I made it clear that I wanted Power Rankings to be done still or whatever, and she asked me about that and I didn't answer because I was tired. So yeah, I guess I have only myself to blame. Well no, its still mostly her fault, but not enough for me to come here and just blame her. So Anyway, I decided that instead of having no power rankings I would try to do it myself (yay) but I decided to theme it around people who have contributed to this weeks 667er.
Lets go!
10. Charles Vane because you didn't do power rankings. This is my revenge
9. Sophie Baudelaire you're cute but you haven't sent me your 667 thing and I doubt you will, so sadly you go here
8. Charlie okay, I don't want to make this just a 'who is best at sending in 667er articles list' or whatever, but this is what its turning out to be, so who cares. But technically you did do a thing but you did it in the penthouse and now its gone so that's no good dude.
7. Esmé's meme is meh yeah you still haven't sent anything in after saying you would in 10 hours. its now been like 30 hours. But I believe in you dude, I hope your article is back up there. Don't let me down
6. MisterM woo me. I'm the editor, I should be top, what is this conspiracy!
5. B. now that's more like it, you wrote a cool new article, plus you did another thing that's coming next, so, y'know, give yourself a pat on the back or whatever
4. Anka uh oh its her. She started a new 667 ABC! and okay she only did one article but she also spell checked the whole issue. Which actually means she could alter things and I don't notice. Maybe she was actually 9 but moved herself up! a-ha!
3. @lindarhaldeen So not only is Linda our newest staff member but she now has not 1, not 2, but 3 regular or semi regular features! How does she do it?
2. A comet crashing into Earth oooh plot twist. This guy is our newest columnist, writing a feature focusing on all the comings and goings behind the scenes of the Netflix series. Its gonna be at the end of this issue, so keep reading, its pretty awesome.
1. Cafe SalMONAlla because she made a huge amount of new banners this month. I've already sung her praises earlier this issue, but hey, she's awesome. Give her a round of applause everyone!
Don't worry, History of 667 is not going anymore, just moving to bi-monthly. In the in-between months this will be a thing. Our first interviewee was @trouble, organizer and one of the winners of Member of the Year.
The 667er: First off, congratulations on (co) winning 2015 Member of the Year!
Bee: Thank you.
The 667er: Were you surprised by the results?
Bee: Yeah, I was surprised. I didn’t think I would win at all, which was part of the reason I was happy to run it.
The 667er: Who did you think was going to win?
Bee: I thought you would win, Linda- you or Anka. MisterM does an incredible amount here as well. Other regular posting members like Zortegus and Lemona are both deserving. Members who were also nominated but are new or are just becoming frequently posting should be encouraged to stay here and contribute more. A lot of the time these things are just a popularity contest essentially. I never won anything like that in real life; I don’t think it fitting I win something like that online really, so I was surprised.
The 667er: You live in Scotland, which is super awesome. Are you fiercely loyal to Scotland, or more meh?
Bee: I am patriotic about my country, but not ‘fiercely’ loyal. Patriotic within reason.
The 667er: Would you ever consider living anywhere else?
Bee: I have loved growing up here, and really believe there’s no where better for a person to start out. But I am getting itchy feet now, and would very much like to move aboard in the next 5-10 years. Somewhere hot, I reckon.
The 667er: Let's talk about your family. I think you have a younger sister, right?
Bee: I’ve got two younger sisters, ages 15 & 13. I’m the eldest.
The 667er: Do you live with both your parents? Any extended family? Any pets?
Bee: I live with both my parents. Lots of extended family, kind of becoming estranged from one side and live far from the other, though. No pets.
The 667er: What is your favorite color? Why?
Bee: This question, really? Probably red or pink. Red is the colour of my lips most days, at least to start out with, before it comes off and I can’t be bothered to re-apply.
The 667er: You joined in October of 2011,so you've pretty much spent all your teenage years at 667. How do you think this has affected you? Would you have grown up differently without the forum?
Bee: Absolutely. I think I would probably be more naïve and I also think I would have less of an idea about who I am as a person, since online forums are so much about people playing an exaggerated persona of themselves most of the time. I think 667 allowed me to get to know people in lots of different places, from lots of different walks of life. None of my peers really had anything like it growing up. If you think of it as a sort of micro-society, it taught me more about human nature and behaviour than school, work or anything.
The 667er: Why did you originally choose the username "brunch"? Why did you change it to Bee?
Bee: At the time of joining I was rereading TPP and I was at the very beginning where they have the vfd brunch. Super dumb decision, I know. I changed it to Bee just because I wanted a change and it’s a phonetic spelling of an initial, kinda like they do in asoue. Also I think there was a fanfiction author by that name that I liked at the time or something. I like Bee, as a name. In fact I’m considering getting a very small tattoo of a Bee on the side of my ribcage (so it would be covered even where wearing a bra/bikini), not just as a callback here, but also as a symbol of tenacity and hard work.
The 667er: Do you sometimes wish we would call you something else or do you like being called Bee the most?
Bee: I call myself Trouble sometimes as an alter ego, it’s more of a stylistic choice. I don’t mind people calling me by my first name either, if you know it already.
The 667er: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
In 5 years? Hopefully with a good honours degree and studying for a postgraduate degree, but not a phd. I want to have studied abroad, and be better at Spanish, and maybe have started a business. Doesn’t matter if it fails or not.
The 667er: What about in 10 years? 20?
Bee: 10-20 years? No idea. I’d like to have children, but don’t find marriage all that appealing right now. We’ll see.
The 667er: From what I understand you are a vegetarian not necessarily by choice, but by necessity. If your body was able to handle meat like an ordinary human being, do you think you would still be a vegetarian? Why or why not?
Bee: Nah. I don’t really care about animals rights. And I’ve started to eat meat more, right now I occasionally eat chicken and fish, and that’s okay for me. So I guess I’m technically no longer a vegetarian. Not sure if I’ll ever eat red meat though.
The 667er: P.S. what is your favorite vegetarian food?
Bee; Chocolate.
The 667er: What has been your favorite thing that has happened on 667 in the last year?
Bee; God, I can’t remember anything that stood out to me in the past year, but I found the fake/real trailer for the new tv series exciting. I miss the hangouts, cliquey bullsalsa and shenanigans of a couple of years ago, though.
The 667er; Are you excited to be an adult now?
Bee; I suppose? I don’t feel like an adult at all yet.
The 667er: How does adulthood work in Scotland anyway; aren't you sort of an adult at 16?
Bee: I suppose you can do a lot of adult things here at 16- it’s age of consent, you can join the army, move out, and the government here recently made 16 the voting age on Scottish matters. You can’t drink or vote in British elections until 18 though, and the driving age is 17. So I guess adulthood remains subjective. You could even argue that you aren’t really an adult at 18.
The 667er: What is your favorite television show? Why?
Bee: My favourite drama is Suits. It’s very smart and has endearing characters, and also requires you to think, which I like in a TV show. I like BBC Sherlock too. My favourite comedy show is Brooklyn Nine Nine. Oh, and I totally watch University Challenge every week too, and I really want to be on the show someday. That’s about all the Tv I watch at the moment.
The 667er: You became a moderator not too long ago. In what ways have you enjoyed your newfound power?
Bee: Lol ‘newfound power.’ I got the job because I was friends with Sherry Ann and Tragedy off-forum. It isn’t really any different, except the red stars do give you a little more authority, I suppose. 667 isn’t at all propped up by the moderator team, quite the contrary. The people who really do run it are the active members and those who post and come online daily.
The 667er: And finally, is there anything we haven't covered yet that you're dying to tell the people of 667?
Bee; Not really. I’m always happy to chat though, if you have my contact details feel free to message me anytime. And I like making new friends, so if you want to get to know me just say hi via pm or whatever.
Rant: Irritating things about books.
This isn’t a literary rant, as you may have expected. I’m full of surprises.
I happen to be susceptible to getting irritated by sensory things, and I also happen to read physical books a lot. This is a short, list-based rant that uses DH books as examples to be accessible, though obviously everyone has different editions and stuff, which isn’t my fault.
- Smells. I’m told I have a very sensitive sense of smell. Bright white paper stinks imo; the brighter the white, the worse the stink. Shinyness is truly dreadful and cough-inducing when combined with bright whiteness. Pepper tells me he associates the smell of shiny paper with crows and dirt but has no idea why. The aussie editions of ATWQ stink, for an example. I’m glad to say that the US hardback editions of ASoUE smell delightful, which is probably because of the paper’s cream colour hurrah.
- Dust jackets. Why are they necessary? (I’m sure my readers will think of reasons, so take that as rhetorical please.) My point is that they slide around and never stay on the book. They stick out past the bottom end of a book and get squashed if you sit the book on a shelf without adjusting the jacket. The only way to keep them in place is to tape them down, which feels like mild vandalism. They perish – meaning warp, tear and get worn at the corners – quicker than hardback books do, so you sometimes have to chuck them out.
- Fancy rubbish. Before you ask, “fancy rubbish” is an umbrella term for excessively aesthetic page number art, page borders, fonts, chapter headings etc. I like an uncluttered Reading Experience. The little round decals next to the book name, series name and page number in the US and UK hardbacks of ASoUE are basically my threshold.
- Markable covers. I’ve saved the most annoying for last. Okay. So. There’s this material that some paperback book covers are made out of. It’s soft and kind of rubbery and creamy – in fact it’s almost fuzzy – if any of that made any sense. It feels as close to sticky as a book cover can, which makes it unpleasant to hold, and worse still if you run a fingernail over it, it leaves a mark which for evermore can be seen when light hits the book in the right way. For some examples: my paperback editions of Adverbs, WWBU and WAP share it – though WAP has by far the most ghastly example of it. It also appears in a milder form on some dust jackets (a combination of two irritating things, yay), such as TLOC and my hardback Horseradish.
My blood is boiling just thinking about these annoyances, and the fact that I was able to find many of our leader’s books to use as examples. I expected better from Mr Handler. This rant was inspired – in content if not in interestingness levels – by a conversation with bear, so that’s a shoutout to him I guess.
Sophie wants to share her grocery list. For some reason.
Chia seeds
Flax seeds
Hemp hearts
Almonds
Pecans
Walnuts
Almond butter
Bananas
Strawberries
Blackberries
Blueberries
Raspberries
Frozen mango
Avocado
Spinach
Kale
Cabbage
Lettuce
Carrots
Red, yellow, orange peppers
Rice paper
Soy milk
Almond coconut milk
Almond flour
Coconut flour
Tomatoes
Parmesan cheese
Zucchini
Hearts of palm
Half and half
Kombucha
Yogurt
"If you don't like these songs, that sucks"
Bonus Aussie
~-//-~
So, that's mostly it for this issue. I hope you enjoyed all the new things, and also the new things of old things. Or just the things. But before we go there is still one last article!
To many of us, it seems like a dream come true. You don't quite believe it, yet this is how it is: At long last, A Series of Unfortunate Events is getting another shot at an adaptation – this time as a TV series by high-profile distributor Netflix, nothing less! Recent information reveals, however, that the show almost certainly won't become available for at least another eight months. That may seem like a long time – it certainly did to me, but browsing through the forums while researching for this article, I ended up with a new, more optimistic perspective on the wait.
A Series of Unfortunate Events has always had a far more dedicated fanbase than most book series aimed at the same audience*. The existence of 667 is in itself proof of that; as a fandom, we're great in number and greater yet in enthusiasm. Being so, it is only to be expected that many of us would eventually feel a longing for an adaptation, and while the 2004 movie was great on many accounts, I think we can all agree that it lacked a few things we'd been yearning for in an adaptation**. Maybe the movie satisfied some of our want. Maybe it only kindled our desire. Either way, threads have long since been popping up suggesting or fantasizing about more adaptations, some even suggesting that it would do best in a serial format.
Those of you who were active members back in October 2014 may remember this thread, in which the possibility of a TV series was first hinted at by an official source. I don't know about you, but to me, that feels like it was only yesterday – a thought which makes the remainder of the wait a little easier to face. It was first noticed by elusive member Tuesday, who appears to have registered only to bring us this piece of information. The information was swiftly removed from the website after it had come to public attention – but by then the cat was out of the bag, as both Tuesday and Dante had already captured screenshots of the original text.
The next thing to happen did so a month later, when a number of internet news sites reported that Netflix had acquired the rights to develop a TV series. We also learned that they were angling it as “Live-action family entertainment”, a phrase which here meant that we were not in for an animated series, as some had suggested it might be. The phrase also suggested that what the network had in mind was meant to be entertaining for both children and adults – a light suggestion, as many things that try to entertain children but fails to entertain anyone are labelled 'family entertainment'.
As it often does in the world of TV development, nothing then happened for a little over half a year. When something finally did happen, the long absence of news meant it happened pretty much out of the blue. A (now notorious) trailer was uploaded by a Youtube user named Eleanora Poe, and was discussed for a while in the Hopes and Fears thread before getting its own. To give you an idea of the impact it had on the fans who had received nothing in the way of cinematography for eleven years, my own first post on the matter was opened by the very formal and intellectual phrase, “Ohgodohgodohgod!”
The reason for all this excitement was, of course, the extremely high quality of the trailer. Expensive CGI leeches, a well-chosen soundtrack by Amanda Palmer***, and subtle references to the book series crammed into every corner. It was everything I'd hoped for... and it was fake. Netflix shortly announced that they had nothing to do with the trailer. But Mr. Handler is known for his cryptic often deceiving way of marketing his stories – could Netflix have taken a page out his book**** and made a trailer without acknowledging its origins? A lively debate ensued, with some members taking sides, and things even escalated to the point where hashtags were utilised. The trailer thread has, to this day, as many pages of posts as the official TV series discussion thread.
Eventually, an organisation of visual artists called Digital Artist Coalition stepped forward and revealed that they had created the trailer with no official involvement from Netflix.
Fast-forward to the beginning of December, and an open casting call is made for actors to portray the elder two Baudelaire siblings on a website with worrying design feature – I'm referring mainly to the logo displayed on the website, which in this writer's opinion gives off the same vibe as the worse portion of things described as 'family entertainment'. Meanwhile, casting decisions remained unknown for a month and a half, although the actress Annika Gordon was listed on IMDb as the actress for Violet for a while.
Then, on January 15th, the day after the audition submission deadline, the first confirmed actor for the series was revealed to the public. In a controversial turn of events, Count Olaf is going to be played by the actor Neil Patrick Harris. Harris had his breakthrough as a child actor on the show Doogie Howser, M.D., but he is best known for his work on comedy projects such as the no-budget internet phenomenon Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which was responsible for taking the actor's career to a new level, but also for cementing him in the public consciousness as 'a comedy actor'. This once again brought about worry that the show is being handled from an overly 'family entertainment'-concerned angle. I personally trust that Harris can handle a more intimidating role, but worry whether he's been asked to actually do so.
By comparison, reactions have been less divided about the actors who were announced on the January 27 – child actors Malina Weissman is set to play Violet Baudelaire, and Louis Hynes will be playing Klaus Baudelaire. Both actors are very young for their profession, but this only makes them around the age of the characters, which many of us were happy to see. Of course, this means that neither of them has had a lot of previous TV- or movie roles from which we can judge them – Weismann is known for appearing as the younger version of the lead character on recent TV show Supergirl, but A Series of Unfortunate Events will most likely be Hynes' debut on screen, having previously worked on opera performances.
All of this leaves us with the knowledge that a TV show is in steady development, but only vague hints at the tone this show is going to take. A lot of us identify closely with the book series – I know I do – and depending on how much of an impact the show makes on the public, it might be a wonderful tool for convincing friends to read the books, or it might be something we'll have to endure having brought up every time we tell someone we like Lemony Snicket. In fact, it will almost certainly be the former to some of us, and the latter to others. Either way, a large-scale adaptation is always going to be exciting news, and I'm certainly thrilled at the prospect that we might, just might, get something wonderful out of this.
Footnotes:
* Whoever exactly that is remains a subject of debate.
**I say we, but I was nine at the time and wouldn't know about Lemony Snicket until years later.
***Who is, incidentally, known to be a close associate of a tangential associate of Mr Snicket's press representative.
****Personally, I hope they have taken the entire series of his books, then read them. If not, this is going to be an interesting adaptation.
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~ If anybody wants to contribute something (whether positive or negative) then feel free to PM me or any other staff members with your ideas ~
~ Don't forget to come to the next penthouse, which is February 14th ~
~ If you want to be interviewed by Linda then PM her and let her know. There will still be group interview, with the next taking place in Edition 16 ~
~ The Next Edition of the 667er will be released on February 29th. See you then! ~
