Thursday Contests, need some huggin’.  Poetic hugging, of course.  Did you know that entering a member contest makes that member feel metaphorically hugged?  It’s true, I swear.  Just see what the reaction is when you enter the competitions ending this week:

and

Of course reading and reviewing is awfully affectionate too, like a warm cookie from the oven from someone you care about.  These competitions are closed to entrants, but need your opinion (you know you have one, share it):

Next week… I lose this metaphor, I promise.

We all know crack is whack, but is all crackfic?  Not necessarily.  Our glossary’s definition is: Weird or outside the norm fan creation; as though the author was on crack when writing.  Here are a few self-proclaimed examples:

and

In retrospect, I think a lot of what I write might be considered crackfic.

Anyone else?

This week we turn the spotlight on CSIBeauty.

What character in your favorite fandom do you most identify with?

Tim Speedle from CSI: Miami. He has a calm demeanor which I think I have.

Who is your favorite creator (TV shows, movies, books, artists, musicians . . . )?

Jhonen Vasquez, the creator of Invader Zim. It is one of the strangest and funniest shows I have seen, and I think it is amazing that it could come from someone’s mind.

What was YOUR first fannish creation?

My first fan fiction piece is "Triple Homicide" from CSI: Miami, but the very first story I have written is an original fantasy story. I actually took some of the ideas from that story and created the story currently submitted here called "Dark Journey ~ The Spider King".

What talent would you like to have that you don’t have?

I would love to be more athletic. Or be good at any sport, really.

What’s something people would never guess about you?

I was in gymnastics for 2 years and dance for 5 years. I am really flexible because of it. 

Can you believe it’s the last week of January already? It’s been pouring rain here in not-so-sunny Southern California.  How is it where you are?

This week’s Carousel is heralding the arrival of some of our old favorite TV shows.  While 24’s future is still up in the air, Lost is found!  Medium is no longer a rarity, and there’s Law & Order again in New York City.  Check out what other shows are coming back with all new episodes, then get in the mood with some fabulous fanfic from each one.

Finally, have you gotten in on our Creativity Credits Giveaway?  This is another chance for you to earn fun FanLib swag and other goodies by submitting stories, video, or art, or by writing a review.  Click the link to get the details then get back to work — we can’t wait to see what you’re creating.

Ed Westwick plays Chuck Bass on TV’s Gossip Girl.  Like his character, he’s charismatic and handsome; unlike his character, he’s down to earth, straightforward, and has an adorable British accent.  Not only is Ed a talented actor, he’s also the front man of a band, Filthy Youth, who had two tracks featured on the Gossip Girl episode, “School Lies.”  I spoke to him on the phone recently to find out what he’s doing during this unexpected hiatus.

Me: How are you today?

Ed: I’m doing good.  Thank you, I’m doing good.  I’m back at home in England right now, so everything’s going well.  How are you?

Me: I’m well, thank you.  I’m here in Los Angeles.

Ed: I just left, I was there, I was there on, when was I there? I came home Wednesday, Wednesday morning.  I just left Los Angeles.  I left the lovely sunshine and traded it in for the gloom and rain of England, I’m afraid.

Me: Do you like Los Angeles?

Ed: I love it.  It’s great.  In recent times I’ve been able to spend more time there on and off; and coming from somewhere like England, it’s always a pleasure to be in a place where it’s constantly kind of sunny and warm.  It’s one of those places where it’s great to drive around, I think, and be in a car.  It’s got this kind of big, open, spread out feeling to it.  So I like it, definitely.

Me: What are you a fan of?  Is there anything you’ve ever been rabid about?

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New to the world of anime?  Viz Media and Amazon Unbox have teamed up to give you a free sample of three of the top anime programs around,  Bleach, Death Note and Naruto.

From now until January 31, you can download one free episode from each of the three shows when you visit Amazon Unbox. Downside is that you have to download the Unbox player and generally once you delete it the show goes with it - but hey, it’s FREE!

Amazon will be carrying a full library of episodes from these three shows for $1.99 each if you should find yourself hooked.

You asked for these site changes, and FanLib’s engineers have made them a reality:

* Members can now scroll multiple pages to find potential contest entries.  Before, clicking a page number or the "next" button generated an error.

* Any fandom beginning with a lowercase letter (iCarly, for example) now appears in the fandom lists.  They were missing before.

* Contests that have votes and winners can now be deleted by the contest moderator.

* When member contests end, contest entries are now unlocked.

* Bolding and italicizing problems have been fixed.  Before, bolding and italicizing changes did not appear in the text edit box.

We also attacked some bugs along the way:

* We fixed the problem of badges opening up in the badge space.

* Comment replies with exactly 50 characters no longer generate an error.

And in case you haven’t seen it on the site, we launched Creativity Credits this week.  You can earn FanLib leather journals, T-shirts, Fandango Bucks, and Amazon.com gift cards by writing reviews or submitting your original fan fiction (stories or screenplays), videos, or art.   

Turn on all the lights and pull your teddy bear close, Betareject is taking us to a land where zombies roam.  From video games to the movies, it’s time for Resident Evil.

*  *  *  *

"Through avarice, evil smiles; through insanity, it sings."
– Anon (as quoted from Resident Evil: Caliban Cove by S.D. Perry)

In the summer of 1998, a series of bizarre murders were reported.  Autopsies revealed that the victims had been brutally attacked and eaten.  S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team — a highly trained special forces team — was sent in to investigate the matter.  They never returned.

Alpha team was sent out shortly after, and despite their many years of training and experience, nothing could have prepared them for what they had to face.

The ancient Spencer mansion was in reality one of Umbrella’s class four viral labs. The pharmaceutical company at the time was renowned for its wide variety of health products. Profits made from their medicines paid for the expenses of more sinister projects focused mostly on bio weapons.  But in their need to play God, the Umbrella corporation grew too confident and careless, causing the destruction of an entire city and the lives of hundreds of thousands more.

Zombies, Cerberus, hunters, lickers, and giant worms were nothing more than by-products to some of their more vile creations: Nemesis, Tyrant, and Mr. X to name but a few. Some of their more tragic creations included the late Lisa Trevor, Dr. William Birkin, and Alexia Ashford.

Only the surviving members of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team and a handful more managed to escape the holocaust. It is now up to them to bring down the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical company before the entire planet becomes consumed by its deadly virus.

Resident Evil was first introduced to the west back in 1996 with the creation of the Playstation One console and was considered one of the first video games to introduce cinematics into game play. In a day and age where bio weapons are more than just a horrific notion, Resident Evil’s survival horror mindset encourages more than just the thrill of surviving against all odds; it makes one sit back and really think. 

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Theme

Makes you think of high school English class, doesn’t it?  Visions of Lord of the Flies and The Great Gatsby swimming about in your head.

The truth is, theme is one of those things that can turn a good writer into a great writer, so ease up on your English teacher — she was only trying to help.

Theme is defined as an underlying central idea in any given work, and it’s usually a statement about life.

Is a person born evil or do they learn to be evil, the consequences of playing god, the reality of social inequality — many of you are already using themes in your stories without even realizing it.

Used properly, a theme becomes a unifying element. It affects the actions of the characters in both the main and the secondary storylines.  Let me give you an example from television.

Friday Night Lights is huge on themes.  Last week it was about one of the toughest phrases in the English language, "I’m sorry."  Each of the main characters in the episode ended up apologizing to someone they had hurt.  Some were big apologies, some were small, but it was a unifying element that made the episode seem complete and less like four different storylines (even though it was four different storylines.) 

Battlestar Galactica is another show that makes good use of themes: do we make our own destiny, we reap what we sow.

It’s all about adding passion to your story, and I don’t mean in the NC-17 sense.  When a writer truly believes what he’s advocating, it pulls you into a story like nothing else.  And that’s the key to choosing a theme.  Think about your beliefs.  Think about them in terms of morals, religion, human nature, good vs. evil.  Then think about your characters.  Which ones share, or even better go against your convictions?  That will give you the theme of your next story.  Write it down on a piece of paper, and keep it in front of you as you type.  Don’t force it into the text, just let it happen and an amazing thing will occur — you’ll write like you’ve never written before.

Then go thank your English teacher; she really was trying to teach you something useful.

After the cut, see more examples of how to incorporate THEME into your next work.

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Paige Albiniak of Broadcasting & Cable just posted a nice article about our last L Word event.  She got the scoop from our CEO Chris Williams.  Now it’s time for our members to opine.  If you have any comments to add, go ahead and post them over there!

It’s Thursday, and you know what that means — one on one greased cage fighting to the pain.  Not so much?  Okay, well how about some member contests? Still open for submission, but closing in the next week:

Read more »

Word up!  Here we are again, another Wednesday, another term from the glossary.  I’m putting a cap on the drabble discussion - I mean you’re welcome to discuss, but we’ll be putting up our definition this week.  I’ve been getting some great suggestions for additions, and both appreciate what we’ve gotten and look forward to what is yet to come from.  This week’s word was just added to the glossary and amuses the hell out of me: Mpreg - Fan fic, art or video involving male pregnancy.  It reminds me of the movie Rabbit Test, from the 70’s; Billy Crystal played the first pregnant man in a film co-written and directed by Joan Rivers.  Oy!

Here are examples from some of our fabulous creators:

If you ask me, it’s about time some of these guys experienced bloating and hormonal swings.

Keep those fan terms comin’! 

We were all shocked and saddened this afternoon after hearing about Australian actor Heath Ledger’s death.

For continuing coverage, we refer you to CNN and The New York Times.

In Heath’s brief but bright career, did any particular performance of his inspire you to write a fanfic?

Shilom is up to bat this week, and she answers our 5 questions.

What character in your favorite fandom do you most identify with?

This is a tough one, since my favorite fandom is Heroes, and I’m definitely not a Hero of any sort! Most people would expect me to say Sylar, as he’s a favorite, but I think I’m going to go with Peter Petrelli. The reason I say this is because, in general, I do tend to see the best in everyone and try to help where I can. Peter stands up for what is right, and I try to do the same.

Who is your favorite creator (TV shows, movies, books, artists, musicians . . )?

Another tough one, there are so many! I’ll have to say James Patterson, as he is a wonderful author and I strive to write as well as him. He also writes a lot of mysteries based around serial killers, which is a favorite subject of mine to read.

What was YOUR first fannish creation?

The Brother’s Grimm, inspired by the Dexter contest. I never wrote [fanfic] before stumbling onto this site, and I am so glad to have stumbled! I hadn’t written anything in years, and I was so inspired as a big fan of the show, that I just sat down and wrote. I haven’t stopped since! So thank you, FanLib, for breaking away my writer’s block. I have written more in these past months then I have in years.

What talent would you like to have that you don’t have?

I would love to be able to draw and paint, like so many talented artists on here. I just really suck at it!

What’s something people would never guess about you?

That I’m actually quite shy in real life!

Gallery 1988 has posted the images of the Stan Lee tribute show on line.  There are so many amazing pieces, here’s the tip of the iceberg:

Nic Cowan
acrylic and pen on panel
16 x 20 inches

 
Johnny Yanok
acrylic on wood
18 x 14 inches

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