firecat

Look, the outsiders have discovered fanfic again

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 13:52:43 GMT

This is an ~30-minute episode of a Vox podcast called “Today Explained.” There is a transcript.

”How fan fiction went mainstream: The community that underpins Heated Rivalry, explained” by Danielle Hewitt and Noel King

It’s a pretty good intro to fanfic and how it’s become something publishers and creators of TV/movies pay attention to. They interview Francesca Kappa, a co-founder of the Organization for Transformative Works, which created AO3.

Things I learned and some bits I liked:

AO3 was created in part to prevent commodification of fanfiction and the social connections it facilitates.
“one of the projects that I worked on in the early days of the OTW organization for transformative works was that we were being contacted by women in their 70s and 80s who were like having to move in with their kids or going into nursing homes and they had like 3,000 fan fiction zines.”
It was claimed that AO3 is “much bigger than Wikipedia.” I’m not sure what metrics they’re using to come up with that.
[AO3 is] “structurally unenshittifiable” because “we don’t have customers and we’re not a business.”
(Discussing copyright) “it would have been terrible if Shakespeare had to, like, negotiate with Netflix for the right to Hamlet and then didn't get it. Like, that's the world we live in, right? We're like, Netflix owns Hamlet, it has a five-year option, Shakespeare really has a great idea for it, but like, no, I'm really sorry because JJ. Abrams is going to do Hamlet.”
(I need to know which circle of Hell shows JJ Abrams’s Hamlet on repeat, because I really want to avoid it.)

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You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 13:15:42 GMT

”In 25-Country Survey, Americans Especially Likely To View Fellow Citizens as Morally Bad” by several authors

The details about which countries line up where on the individual issues that Pew chose to use in its survey is interesting, but what really strikes me about this article is the list of issues itself.

Married ppl having an affair
Using marijuana
Viewing pornography
Gambling
Having an abortion
Homosexuality
Drinking alcohol
Getting a divorce
Using contraceptives

How did they come up with this silly list and what does it have with morality? At first I thought it was based in monotheistic religions, but there’s only one overlap with the Ten Commandments and I don’t remember anything about most of those in the New Testament either. (I don’t know much about the others.) All of the things in this list are either completely morally acceptable (contraceptives, being gay) or are unacceptable only insofar as they often lead to harming others (alcohol). Whereas murdering, stealing, and telling lies about other people should be in any list of potentially immoral behaviors. Because “does it cause lasting harm to others” is the most important determinant of what’s moral and immoral. At least that’s how it looks from here.
/soapbox

How does the concept of morality fit into your life?

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Got insincere flattery?

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 11:06:11 GMT

“But I had an epiphany. You know what all this sycophancy constantly being told you’re right, that you’re brilliant, that every decision is flawless? That sounds an awful lot like being a billionaire.”

[sic - perhaps the grammatical error is to show the writer is not an AI]

"The Secret Tool AI Uses to Seduce You: Explained," by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis

I use AI to get answers to simple questions and I hate when the bot addresses me personally. I hate it possibly to an irrational degree. (Even when someone else shares with me an AI convo they had, I get mad.) Do you use AI for anything and what do you think of this design choice?

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Discord age verification

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 11:08:31 GMT

I guess Discord is going to start requiring users to prove they are over a certain age if they want to access certain content.

I mainly use Discord to keep connected to fanfic fandom, most of which has certain content. And I definitely am not going to upload my ID.

Does this affect you? If so, what are you going to do when it goes into effect?

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Duck, politics incoming

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 13:39:45 GMT

This article boils down to “we told you so.” But I like how it explains why the mainstream media dismissed and downplayed what we told you (because their “how to do journalism” rules demand it, e.g.: “Insist on a both-sides structure even when one side is lying“).

“The Media Malpractice That Sent America Tumbling Into Trumpism” by Parker Molloy
https://newrepublic.com/article/205913/media-malpractice-trumpism-project-2025

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Happy Anniversary

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:51:42 GMT

It’s the 10th anniversary of the first broadcast of Lucifer, which is one of my top 3 favorite TV shows.*
I FEEL SO OLD 😭

*The other two are Star Trek the original series and Babylon 5, just don’t ask me in what order.

What makes you feel old or young?
What are your favorite TV shows?

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Where do you get your coffee beans?

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 20:38:52 GMT

*sigh* I was just reminded that Peet’s Coffee is owned by a larger corporation now (has been for some time). I‘d rather support a smaller company. If you make coffee from ground beans at home, what is your go-to source? Bonus for fair trade and all those other green, good-citizen buzzwords.

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Consequences

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 08:58:03 GMT

Turns out that listening to an audiobook of The Witcher in the vicinity of an iThing can cause a mildly irritating problem

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ADHD research

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 19:14:16 GMT

From the “You don’t say!🙀” files
(Content note: The article uses language that frames ADHD as a problem)

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/adhd-advantage-hypercuriosity

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We need to talk

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 00:06:20 GMT

The New Yorker is trying to convince me that Bluesky has become annoying and everyone’s back on Xitter. Not linking because it’s paywalled. True or false?

I never got the hang of Twitter. I have similar problems with Bluesky. I don’t need a social site to deliver me more links. I want conversation. Is conversation dead? Where is it? (I know there’s some here…)

I miss Usenet, lol

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Sat, 26 Jul 2025 23:13:12 GMT

Just got out of a week intubated in the icu (not outta the woods but on the mend) and had lost my ability to walk I felt proud of being able to walk around as a fat person so I was embarrassed and described myself as ”weak as a newborn kitten” but when I thought about it I realized kittens come out pretty darn weak but they’re designed to develop into killing machines whch they do in short order yeah I got this. No plans to kill any one just, metaphors have power

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The next Bond?

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 15:30:55 GMT

OK, who should be the next Bond? I’m impressed by the wide range of suggestions here. I especially liked the suggestion for Rege-Jean Page. No one mentioned Joseph Mawle, Edward Bluemel, Harry Lloyd, or Matthew Goode, though. Or Tobias Menzies!

What do you think?

Guardian readers make nominations for the next Bond

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Hey AI — hands off my em-dash

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 09:05:17 GMT

My fave is the semicolon; however, I refuse to cede em-dashes or any other punctuation marks to ChatGPT.

These attacks on the em dash — a ChatGPT hyphen? How very dare you! — have in turn blazed across social media spaces populated by the kind of folks who will tell you, unprompted, that they have a favorite punctuation mark and what it is. (It is very likely the em dash.) — https://www.salon.com/2025/06/11/ai-cant-have-my-em-dash/

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(Keanu-as-) Constantine 2!

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 08:57:56 GMT

"Peter Stormare Gives Update on ‘Constantine 2’; Keanu Reeves Reportedly Unhappy with Script" by Meagan Navarro (very similar articles seen on a number of other entertainment news sites).

"'But to do a sequel, the studios want to have, you know, cars flying in the air. They want to have people doing flip-flops and fighting action scenes,' Stormare said."

I think I agree with Keanu. We already have the John Wick franchise. IT IS AWESOME. But we don't need the Keanu-as-Constantine franchise to turn into another John Wick franchise.

I hope they resolve this soon because I am DROOLING at the chance to see Stormare play Lucifer again.

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Judge rules against anti-trans passport ban

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 10:26:33 GMT

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/judge-blocks-passport-ban-citing

There’s lots to like in this temporary ruling, but the bit that makes my geeky soul sing is where the judge bases her ruling in part on the ban violating the Paperwork Reduction Act.

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Fri, 11 Apr 2025 06:35:23 GMT

I’ll take “Weird little knowledge gaps” for 500, Alex

I have listened to “In A Gadda da Vida” more or less since it first came out and I was today days old when I realized the phrase comes from “in the Garden of Eden.”

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anticipation

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:28:14 GMT

It showed up in three posts in a row on my reading list. Who am I to ignore what the cool kids are doing?

PS: *squeee!!!*

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Political activism meets consumerism: a dilemma

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 04:58:14 GMT

I’m mad about what Mump is doing everywhere but what it’s doing to Canada really bugs me; I guess I feel kind of like Canada is one of my best friends. I grew up near the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit. I spent most of a year in Montreal. And I love how defiant they’re being toward Mump.

I’m not yet personally worried about money.

Should I:
-make a point of buying Canadian products to help Canada?
-avoid buying products subject to tariffs because that would mean less tariff money in Mump’s pocket?
-avoid buying anything unnecessary at all, in the hope that not participating in the economy will put more pressure on Mump?
-some combination of the above?
-something else?

I suppose I should make a poll but I am interested in people’s reasoning, not just their votes.

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Roundup: 15 Genprompt bingo fills

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 10:01:46 GMT

I’ve gotten out of the habit of posting my stories individually. Here are fifteen I wrote December 2024 – March 2025

They’re also at genprompt_bingo:
https://genprompt-bingo.dreamwidth.org/140851.html
https://genprompt-bingo.dreamwidth.org/140731.html
https://genprompt-bingo.dreamwidth.org/140503.html

Author: firecat
Fandoms: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Babylon 5, The Bacchae - Euripides, Bridgerton (TV), Fairy Tales, James Bond (Craig), Lucifer (TV), Moon Knight, Original Work, Person of Interest, Ted Lasso

( Fills below the cut )

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What makes a man

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 18:44:31 GMT

I was paying more attention than usual to my regularly scheduled penis-enhancement spam today.

What makes a man?
Is it strength? A great career? Confidence in a crowd?
Yes, all of that matters.
But there's one key thing that defines your confidence, your pride, and even your relationship...
Can you get it up? And keep it up?
And I’m not talking about a few minutes—I mean for as long as you want.

It went on to say “P.S. Imagine her satisfaction when you can finally give her the night she's been craving.”

[274,638 eyerolls later…]

Anyway, the response that popped into my head was from back in 1970 when the fourth grade class had a module called “what makes man human?” (These days we’d say it differently, to deny a snarky fourth grader the opportunity to say “an H and a U.”) And back then one of the more popular answers to that question was “we use tools.”

You can probably figure out where I’m going with this…

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I’ll take “Unexpected results of writing fanfic” for $0.00, Alex

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 01:14:53 GMT

Comment on my stories Twice-born and If Not Victory:
“My name is [redacted], and I am a research assistant at [a university] in the Netherlands. I am reaching out to kindly request your permission to include some sentences in an academic publications analyzing how characters die in fanfiction of Greek and Roman myths”

This describes the study the team is doing.
https://golemlab.eu/about/

‘The goal of GOLEM is to model the evolution of fiction in the context of digitalized and datafied culture, the so-called “digital literary sphere”’

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Watson TV ep 1 thoughts/notes

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 04:40:17 GMT

I watched episode 1 of the new medical mystery show Watson. Three-word review: Flawed but satisfying.

I really enjoyed the character of Shinwell, played by Ritchie Coster.
( mild spoilers; perhaps larger spoilers in the comments )

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Having a fancritter moment…

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 20:17:05 GMT

January 27, 2025

Firecat: OMG! Why am I only now hearing about this TV show Watson? I’m so out of touch!

Wikipedia: Watson is an American television series created by Craig Sweeny which premiered on CBS on January 26, 2025.

Firecat: Oh…OK then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(TV_series)
It’s on Paramount+

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Fanfic stats 2023–2024

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 16:08:53 GMT

Some numbers.

I was under the impression that I’d written a lot less in 2024 than 2023, so it was a pleasant surprise to learn I actually published more words in 2024, although I wrote fewer total.
( Read more... )

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Fanfic written 2024

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 11:31:49 GMT

Happy New Year!

In 2024 I stopped posting each work as it was released, so instead I made a roundup by month in reverse chronological order.

DECEMBER
A Bloody Cheek (Mind the Gap Flash, Bond(Craig))
https://archiveofourown.org/works/61414504
( Read more... )

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