The Internet loves to grumble, but while the rest of the Web is lining up to handwring over the news that Steven Spielberg wants to remake West Side Story, we're celebrating. It's true that Robert Wise's film adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim musical is a classic, featuring an all-star cast and iconic choreography by Jerome Robbins.

But here's why we want Spielberg to tear it all down and start over.

1) The original movie score is lifeless

In addition to suffering from a number of awkward musical cuts, the 1961 West Side Story score drags and drags. Its bloated and outsized orchestra produced a sound Bernstein himself called "overbearing and lacking in texture and subtlety." And it's easy to hear why. When you listen to the 1957 Original Broadway Cast Recording, the aggressive energy of Bernstein's notoriously difficult score almost makes it seem like notes are flying off the page and hitting you in the face. It's exactly how a rough, violent inner-city Romeo and Juliet should sound:

In contrast, when you listen to the film score, most of the musical numbers which had vibrance and energy onstage get slowed down to a snail's pace in comparison.

The dramatic quality of the film suffers because of the tepid score. Onstage, the fervid "Cool" is restless, aggravated, anything but cool. The movie's setting makes this song into a laidback, hip walk in the park, which robs it of its dramatic function as a stand-in for Tony's mental anguish. Do-over, please.

2) More authentically Spanish? Si, por favor

In the 1961 film, Russian actress Natalie Wood played the Hispanic Maria, with her voice dubbed by famed Hollywood songstress Marni Nixon. Spielberg is unlikely to whitewash the casting, so we would actually have a Hispanic actress play Maria. Equally important to the show's authenticity: actual Spanish in the script. In 2009, the show's original librettist, Arthur Laurents, helmed a revival that utilized a wealth of new Spanish translations and insertions to the original text, written by Tony-award-winning In the Heights composer Lin-Manuel Miranda. The chance for new film audiences to see the musical with this additional context is one we shouldn't pass up for anything.

3) It should be longer

You know what's better than music by Leonard Bernstein and choreography by Jerome Robbins? More music by Leonard Bernstein and choreography by Jerome Robbins. The original film clocked in at two and a half hours, and cuts were made to the score and dance sequences. Today no one would cut a word or remove a single step of Robbins' asphalt jungle ballet step. But Bernstein had to fight to keep his score intact even before the stage production opened, and when the editing room got hold of Robbins' ballets, they savaged many of the moments that make the stage musical resonate, like, oh, the entire"Somewhere" ballet sequence. No big loss, it's only one of the most iconic ballets in American musical theatre.

Thankfully, no one loves a good three-hour epic like Spielberg. Go ahead, Steve, put back all the incidental music and majestic tours jetés. The audience for three-hour musicals like Les Miserables has proven we'll eat up every note and go see it twice.

4) MPAA censorship

The censors had a field day with the original West Side Story film adaptation, and many of the lyrics had to be altered or cut altogether to avoid racy lines like "the whole ever-mother-lovin' street." As if the lackadaisical score isn't enough, taking the bite out of the Sharks and the voom out of the Jets guts the heart and soul of the 50's punk culture the musical embodied so well.

5) Kill your darlings

I love West Side Story, but I also love the opportunity to remake things that are flawed. A few years ago, I spoke to a bitter 13-year-old who walked out at intermission during a performance of West Side Story because he felt the story he was watching was old and racist. To a kid like that, the 1961 film adaptation probably looks hopelessly dated and inauthentic. Give that kid a contemporary Spielberg musical, with actual Spanish elements, full of epic and larger-than-life visuals and Shakespearean tragedy. He deserves it. And so do we.

Photo via pacificnorthwestballet/Flickr

True Detective may be the Twin Peaks of the Southern Gothic. In between gorgeous cinematography and tantalizing mysteries, it trades on cryptic meanings, creepy iconography, and loaded, sometimes borderline incomprehensible dialogue.

All of which, of course, makes it perfect parody material. And no one does parody like Joel McHale and his fellow Community comedian, Oscar-winning screenwriter and comedian Jim Rash. The two have teamed up on McHale's The Soup to deliver a hilarious take on HBO's Southern noir masterpiece. From McHale's McConaughey drawl to Rash's garbled take on Woody Harrelsons grizzled speech, everything about this spoof is pitch-perfect.

H/T Uproxx | Screengrab via YouTube

OK Internet, you win, we give in. We're still miffed that we don't have a female Doctor, but we're officially declaring our love for Peter Capaldi.

Since the controversial announcement last year that he would be the Twelfth Doctor, many fans have voiced doubts that he has the chops to fill the shoes of Doctor Who's departing Eleven, Matt Smith. Although Capaldi is an Oscar-winning writer and acclaimed actor, notably for the British satirical dramedy The Thick of It, many fans felt he might be too old to play the part of the bouncy time-and-space explorer.

But in this heartwarming interaction with a young fan in an adorable Dalek costume, Capaldi convinces us that he's the perfect Doctor for the part.

"Matt was very nice to me, as Jenna [Coleman] was, too," Capaldi tells the fan, a young girl who's having trouble accepting that Smith is leaving.

They were both very welcoming to me when I came into the Tardis. Matt said to me to look after the Doctor. And he gave me his watch... and he said that in his own way, he was happy that it was me coming in. So I will do my very best to be as fun and as friendly as he is.

Capaldi met the fan during an appearance alongside Jenna Coleman, who played the show's most recent companion. While Coleman chats with the fan and her family, Capaldi pulls up a picture he has on his phone and shows it to the little girl.

"That's Matt and Jenna," the fan points out. Capaldi nods.

"So they say it's OK for me to be the Doctor," he assures the fan. "I hope you think it'll be okay for me to be the Doctor, too."

It's more than OK with us.

Various onlookers, including the girls' parents, captured the whole touching scene in the two YouTube videos below.

Doctor Who returns at Christmas. We can't wait.

H/T Hypable; Screengrab via YouTube

Comics fans, Robert Rodriguez fans, Jessica Alba fans, Bruce WIllis fans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt fans, fans of hot girls doing striptease in Robert Rodriguez films...

Let's face it, is there anyone who won't be happy about Sin City: A Girl to Die For? Well... women, maybe.

From the looks of the trailer, which just dropped on YouTube, the sleezy, stylish sequel is just as misogynistic as 2005's pulpy film noir of Frank Miller's classic comic.

But we can't help it: we enjoyed the first one and we'll probably love this one, too. For starters, it's just as gorgeous as its predecessor:

For another thing, just look at that cast. Joseph Gordon-Levitt probably won't actually be reprising his Looper gig playing a younger version of Willis, but we don't care, we're down for whatever keeps pairing these two stars together.  And we're still not over Jessica Alba's dancing in the first film, so let's just say we're pretty happy campers right now. But let's face it—Sin City couldn't be more blatant:

As for the rampant sexism that characterized its predecessor.... well. No one sends up sexist tropes by making them so over-the-top they become ridiculous and enjoyable quite like Robert Rodriguez. Still, we enjoyed the first film despite, not because, of its blatant violence and objectification of women. Now, with a title like A Girl to Die For, it looks like the franchise is being boldly direct about the kind of movie we can expect.

So color us grudgingly excited. Who knows? Maybe the combined badassery of Alba and Rosario Dawson will be enough to overcome the series' track record so far.

Otherwise, a whole bunch of our faves just lined up to produce a movie that will undoubtedly alienate 52 percent of its audience and leave us grudgingly wanting more.

Screengrab via YouTube; GIFs by Aja Romano

The outcry over LonCon's decision to ask controversial British talk show host Jonathan Ross to host the Hugos just won't end. After a week filled with accusations of bullying and harassment on all sides, a new wave of backlash swept the sci-fi community Thursday evening after one noted author used the wrong Twitter hashtag.

Ross has a long track record of offending women and other marginalized viewers on his eponymous BBC talk show. LonCon is this year's host for the world's oldest sci-fi/fantasy convention, WorldCon, which like the rest of the sci-fi/fantasy publishing sphere has grappled with ongoing issues of diversity and representation in recent years. Many in the community took Ross's engagement to host as a sign that convention organizers didn't care about the safety of women and minority attendees.

For his part, Ross felt personally attacked by those who reacted to the con's decision on Twitter. His daughter called the uproar "emotionally exhausting," while his wife, Hugo-winning screenwriter Jane Goldman, deleted her Twitter altogether because of the backlash. Meanwhile, mainstream media consistently characterized many of the community members who spoke out against Ross's hiring as an "angry mob," although many of those who were offended also received harassment on Twitter as a result of the debate.

Then came LonCon's statement. The convention apologized to everyone and apparently satisfied no one: First to Ross and his family for the harassment they received, then to those who were upset that Ross was chosen, and to those who were upset he would not be hosting. Additionally, the convention seemed to abjure full responsibility for the decision, claiming that "we did not consult widely or promptly enough within our own Committee or with external parties."

This seems to contradict a now-privatestatement by one committee member that she argued with the chairs for days over their decision, and resigned in protest after gathering that the decision was not up for debate.

Many members of the sci-fi community felt the apology rang false and accused LonCon of catering to Ross (and to celebrity authorNeil Gaiman, who Ross claimed asked him to host). Others blamed easily-offended Americans for the brouhaha, despite the time zone difference. And still others blamedsocial media for causing the whole situation to spiral out of control.

Social media has continued to drive the debate in the days since Ross's withdrawal, and it has predictably catalyzed the latest turn of events. Perhaps as a result of what writer Chuck Wendig called"social PTSD," last night, bestselling fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss, known for his Kingkiller Chronicle series, asked the community to simmer down:

Um, guys? Can we all stop being dialed-to-11 offended about everything? Then being offended that people are offended we're offended? Please?

— Pat Rothfuss (@PatrickRothfuss) March 6, 2014

@wilw I know these conversations are important. But it feels like I'm awash in an endless sea of butthurt all the time these days. #SoWeary

— Pat Rothfuss (@PatrickRothfuss) March 6, 2014

Twitter user Rose Fox took the hashtag and issued a sarcastic response:

You know what I'm #SoWeary of? Talking about "being offended" like it's a bad choice. As though there's something wrong with giving a shit.

— Dandy McFopperson (@rosefox) March 7, 2014

Rothfuss may have just been trying to soothe the community. Instead, he drew a number of raised eyebrows as the sci-fi community weighed in.

.@PatrickRothfuss That’s a good attitude to take toward one’s own behavior, but a problematic one to apply to less powerful folks. + @wilw

— P Nielsen Hayden (@pnh) March 6, 2014

.@PatrickRothfuss + You or I can get a lot of instant attention to a problem if we choose. Most people have to raise their voices. @wilw

— P Nielsen Hayden (@pnh) March 6, 2014

@pnh@PatrickRothfuss@wilw And even when we do, we're called shrill, or hysterical. See the hash tag #iaskedpolitely

— Beth Bernobich (@beth_bernobich) March 7, 2014

The #IAskedPolitely tag referenced above is a year-old tag detailing women's negative experiences with geek culture after "#Donglegate" and the firing of Adria Richards. Like another geek hashtag takeover, #1ReasonWhy, women used it to outline the many obstacles they face in a culture that routinely marginalizes them. Last night, a similar takeover swiftly happened.

Rothfuss' use of the hashtag #SoWeary quickly turned into a venting session among marginalized members of the sci-fi community. Like all the other geek hashtags before it, the #SoWeary takeover included discussions about girl-shaming, harassment, the "watch your tone" argument, and more:

@eilatan#SoWeary of being told SF isn't for girls anyway.

— Ann Somerville (@ann_somerville) March 7, 2014

Reminder: Multiple Hugo award-winner Connie Willis was groped onstage during the 06 Hugo Awards ceremony. #sowearyhttp://t.co/Wv9h4IGZmV

— LFP (@Living400lbs) March 7, 2014

I'm #SoWeary of the rules for me being different than for my male peers

— Fiona Campbell (@fionalorne) March 7, 2014

#SoWeary of not being able to participate in geek communities without a measure of harassment, stalking, or other uncomfy male entitlement.

— Cecily Kane (@Cecily_Kane) March 7, 2014

But this takeover also contained specific callouts of the sci-fi community and the frustrations fans are having with LonCon:

I am #SoWeary astounding lack of empathy coming from certain quarters of the SFF community.

— Annalee (@leeflower) March 7, 2014

I'm #SoWeary of seeing valid concerns dismissed or shouted down.

— Alice (@alicetheowl) March 7, 2014

I'm #soweary of legitimate questions being seen as an attack by privileged folk who don't know what an attack IS.

— Suleikha Snyder (@suleikhasnyder) March 7, 2014

I am #SoWeary astounding lack of empathy coming from certain quarters of the SFF community.

— Annalee (@leeflower) March 7, 2014

I am #SoWeary of the supposed allies coming down all Big Daddy with their, "Now, play nice, dears. It's tiring when you complain."

— Lesbonomicon (@heavenscalyx) March 7, 2014

#SoWeary whenever I look for SFF sensawunda, I find ANOTHER white cis man pained by the cries of the marginalized @PatrickRothfuss@wilw

— hapax (@hapaxnym) March 7, 2014

And I'm #soweary of this sad tale playing out the same way every time. Big guys push people around, people push back, big guys cry foul.

— Susan Jane Bigelow (@whateversusan) March 7, 2014

And in the mix of outrage were those who were simply, well, weary of the backlash to the backlash to the backlash.

Just to recap, we're on the reactions to reactions to the actually mostly quite subdued and rapid events of last Saturday? #SoWeary

— A A McNamara (@aamcnamara) March 7, 2014

The sci-fi and fantasy corner of geek culture has a long way to go before it can stop reacting, however. After decades of marginaization, many members of sci-fi/fantasy fandom are finding that the Internet is finally providing a platform for their concerns. They are angry and loud. But they are yelling over the long history of publishing that has rewarded the accomplishments of straight white men while dismissing or erasing those of everyone else.

The good news is that more and more, publishing is starting to listen, and changes are already taking effect. Despite the shadow cast over the Hugos by the debate over Ross, the year's awards circuit is already favoring diverse authors. Whether any of them will make their way onstage at WorldCon remains to be seen; but with the award ceremony months away, one thing is certain:

The ongoing debate about inclusion and diversity in sci-fi will be coming to a Twitter near you.

Photo via brewbooks/Flickr; CC BY-SA-2.0

We know you gasped and screamed your way through last night's True Detective season finale. A hodgepodge of homages to everything from Texas Chainsaw Massacre to vintage pulp horror and Twin Peaks, last night's eighth episode had everything—including some references you might have missed. Here are 5 handy allusions you might have missed among the series' many literary and cultural nods. Spoilers ahead!

1) Errol may not be the Yellow King, but he is the ErlKing

Though he may not be listed in any birth register, Errol, the son of the terrifying Sheriff Childress, has his name in a much older book: Grimm's Fairytales. The name "Earl" is synonymous with the title of "Earl" in English, which is linked to the Germanic title of "Earl-king." In Germanic folklore, the "Erlking" is the King of the Elves. But he's also, according to Goethe's famous ballad Der Erlkoenig, evil, deadly, and a child predator. In Der Erlkoenig, the Erlking attempts to lure, then use violence against a little boy who's captured his attentions:

Do you want to come with me, pretty boy?
My daughters shall wait on you finely;
My daughters will lead the nightly dance,
And rock and dance and sing you to sleep.

Not only is this a chilling description of the ritualistic ceremonies Errol and the others in the cult perform on their victims, but in the finale, he attempts to seduce Rust to his death in the same way. As he lures Rust deeper into the labyrinthine "forest" that is Carcosa, Errol calls Rust "Little prince," and asks, "Do you know what I would do to all the sons and daughters of man?" as if he himself is more than human.

2) We are all Inhabitants of Carcosa

Much has been made of True Detective's references to Robert W. Chambers' 1895 weird fiction classic The King in Yellow. True Detective's finale shows Rust enacting a moment similar to one described in a story from The King in Yellow called "In the Court of the Dragon:" 

I raised my seared eyes to the fathomless glare, and I saw the black stars hanging in the heavens: and the wet winds from the lake of Hali chilled my face.

But there's an even more vivid depiction of what happenns to Rust in an earlier inspiration for Chambers, Ambrose Bierce's 1891 short story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa." In it the narrator finds himself removed from civilzation and seeking the city of Carcosa. In the story's climactic moment, the speaker looks up at the sky and knows an overpowering moment of existential dread:

Looking upward, I saw through a sudden rift in the clouds Aldebaran and the Hyades! In all this there was a hint of night -- the lynx, the man with the torch, the owl. Yet I saw—I saw even the stars in absence of darkness. I saw, but was apparently not seen nor heard. Under what awful spell did I exist?

Yep, this is pretty much exactly what happens to Rust in Carcosa's innermost chamber.

3) Who Watches the Dark?

Throughout its first season, True Detective obliquely references many of the themes in Alan Moore's acclaimed dark comic classic TheWatchmen, itself a gritty, violent tale of expansive government corruption that's littered with references to pulp fiction and weird horror. But there's also a far more direct Moore reference in the last scene of last night's episode.

Rust's moving speech about the battle between the light versus the darkness is almost an exact quote of Moore's Top Ten, an acclaimed 1999 sci-fi comic that uses interaction between humans and a wide range of alien species to explore ideas about societal prejudice and political injustice. Rust Cohle's inspiration is an alien named Kapela, who tells his partner, Nebula, that space is "an immense board of lights"...

...and that now the light is winning. Read the whole moment at Crisis on Earth.

4) Rust is Jesus...

No, really. Earlier in the series, he tells Marty he's been thinking about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and Christ's decision to allow his own crucifixion. If the look on his face as he enters Carcossa doesn't tell you everything you need to know about Rust's mental state, his conviction that he wasn't supposed to come back from the experience fills in the rest. But if you need visuals, here are all the ways in which the finale stages him in numerous visual references to Christ.

ThePieta, depicted here with art by Frank Covino...

Bruised and bleeding (and yes, we think that's a cross emblazoned on his forehead)...

...and of course, staged with Marty as Simon of Cyrene carrying his cross.

Not to mention the parts where he was stabbed in the gut (like Jesus) and miraculously came back from the dead (like Jesus).

5) ....Which might make him the new Yellow King.

If you want to go even deeper into the ideas of the Yellow King mythology, in the opening story to Chambers' collection, "The Repairer of Reputations," the narrator goes mad after having read the entirety of a play entitled The King in Yellow. After failing in a diabolical and gruesome plot to crown himself The Yellow King, he makes a last stand, surrounded by former friends who are now fully horrified at his transformation:

But I still raged, bleeding and infuriated among them, and more than one policeman felt my sharp teeth. Then when I could no longer move they came nearer; I saw old Hawberk, and behind him my cousin Louis' ghastly face, and farther away, in the corner, a woman, Constance, weeping softly.

"Ah! I see it now!" I shrieked. "You have seized the throne and the empire. Woe! woe to you who are crowned with the crown of the King in Yellow!"

The final lines don't make it clear who he thinks is the new king, but it looks as though his suspicions have fallen on Constance, an innocent bystander who has been weeping in horror. While he's been trying to keep his cousin from stealing the title of King in his head, Constance may be the usurper who now has to bear the horror of the crown. Is Constance a parallel with Rust, who has an overwhelming encounter with death and the cosmos that leaves him weeping in the season's final moments?

In the inner chamber of Carcossa, there's a yellow skeleton king which appears to be sitting on a throne. A closer look reveals the skeleton has the cult's symbol, the omnipresent spiral, carved on its forehead. Here's a side-by-side of the skeleton with the cross that seems to be emblazoned on Rust's forehead:

What do you think? Is Rust the new Yellow King?

Screengrabs via HBO Go; Pieta by Frank Corvino

How would you stop a moving train if you had to? Superman used raw force, but one resourceful passenger used Twitter.

Alex Burrows was riding a pendolino in Birmingham, England, last Monday when he heard a disconcerting noise.

My pendolino has got a clatter - is it the toilet tank emptying or a loose lid? Think it is under rather than panto above...?! @VirginTrains

— Alex Burrows (@alexcburrows) March 3, 2014

A minute later, according to Twitter timestamps, Virgin Trains, which runs a 24-hour chat via its Twitter account, responded:

@alexcburrows Which train are you on, Alex? Also, which coach? :o) ^RM

— Virgin Trains (@VirginTrains) March 3, 2014

Virgin's Twitter operator kept up the cutesy emoticons throughout the exchange with Burrows, who told them which line he was on and gave them more details about the problems. Just under half an hour later, Alex tweeted again, noting apologetically that the train had stopped.

@VirginTrains guard just announced, driver is out looking at my coach for possible problems... We are blocking the fast line.... :(

— Alex Burrows (@alexcburrows) March 3, 2014

@VirginTrains wow, I'm the train doctor!!!

— Alex Burrows (@alexcburrows) March 3, 2014

So how did Alex manage to stop the train? According to Virgin's Twitter, the Twitter operator relayed his SOS signal to the train's construction and maintenance service, Alstom, who in turn called the driver directly. Alstom's Twitter chimed in and corroborated, noting that "we usually do" in case of any concern.

The train was inspected and dubbed safe for passage. The Metroreported that once arrived in London, inspectors discovered a damaged sandpipe that could have been responsible for the noise Alex heard.

For his part, Alex seemed to think the train's sensors had relayed something wrong to the engine. "Now not for one minute would a train be stopped, blocking the West Coast Main Line towards London on a Monday morning, on the say of one passenger!" he wrote on his blog about the incident.

But it's quite possible that Virgin, which has over 110,000 followers on Twitter, was thinking of the possible fallout if they didn't stop the train on the say of one passenger: A passenger with access to social media, that is.

Photo via Geograph.org

What does a national protest look like on the Internet? It looks a lot like the outrage the people of Turkey are feeling today over the death of a 15-year-old-boy. And as outcry over the Internet grows, so are the on-the-ground protests in Istanbul.

Hashtags, slogans, and headlines across Turkey today are proclaiming that Berkin Elvan Ölümsüzdür—Berkin Elvan will live forever—after citizens learned that the 15-year-old had died after spending 269 days in a coma as a result of injuries sustained during last year’s political protests.

His family announced the loss this morning over Twitter: “To our people: We lost our son Berkin Elvan at 7 a.m. in the morning. Condolences to us all.”

Elvan is the eighth person to die as a result of the Gezi Park riots, a conflict that began last May as a protest over urbanization in Istanbul that spilled over to the rest of the country. Then 14-year-old Berkin Elvan was on his way to buy bread in Istanbul on June 16 when he was struck in the head by a teargas cannister issued by riot police.

Doctors reportedly claimed that in order to cause the injury, police had to have fired the teargas directly at Elvan from close range, using the cannister itself to injure Elvan. The Humans Rights Watch has documented a number of similar claims by protesters of similar illegal use of the cannisters as weapons.

But Elvan wasn’t a political activist. He was just a boy on his way to the grocer’s, and his death seems to have united all of Turkey in mourning:

The text above depicts Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan next to a picture of Elvan. Erdogan is quoted as saying "I gave police the orders" to begin the offensive against the protestors in May 2013. (Photo via faunriz/Instagram)

Elvan's death comes at an equally tense time for Turkey. On the heels of last year's protests, the Turkish government began to apply pressure on social media, which sparked new protests in February. Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan had only just backed down earlier this week from threats to shut down Facebook and YouTube when the Internet exploded in a new wave of outrage over Elvan. Turkish citizens have taken to the web to post artwork and video tributes to Elvan.

"Our spirits are very tired," writes dilarayazzz on Instagram, posting art of Elvan wreathed in sheaves of wheat:

Illustration via dilarayazzz/Instagram

The outrage is manifest on the streets of Turkey as well. One Twitter user captured a poignant message in honor of Elvan's fateful trip to buy bread:

A grocery "The breads are free today, we have lost #BerkinElvan" (berkin was shot while he was going to buy bread) pic.twitter.com/utWcdenb5Y

— zην (@zy_bia) March 11, 2014

As the groundswell of sorrow over Elvan's death grows, police are facing protesters once again. Reports coming from Ankara show protesters gathering in the streets:

Cops have started to attack protesters @ Kizilay, #Ankara#BerkinElvan#ACABpic.twitter.com/wTu0w857tQ

— AC (@Unidadpopular_s) March 11, 2014

ODTU students block main road in #Ankara, protesting #BerkinElvan's death. Police fired tear gas. Pic by @bektasumitpic.twitter.com/yRk9O6JHnh

— Humeyra Pamuk (@PamukHum) March 11, 2014

Thousands of students in #Ankara have started marching in protest of the death of #BerkinElvanhttp://t.co/yIz10JdaR2pic.twitter.com/RuGukPapVU

— Selin Girit (@selingirit) March 11, 2014

And just as before, the movement is spreading.

People of #Erzincan out on the streets, demonstrating. #BerkinElvanpic.twitter.com/cUXiVCUwqt

— Occupied Taksim (@OccupiedTaksim) March 11, 2014

It seems as though the death of a boy who was an innocent bystander to the 2013 protests is now sparking even more political unrest from the citizens who want to honor him.

Photo via unidadpopular_s/Twitter

Prom night is a magical evening for teens around the country. But it can also be a source of anxiety for young women and men who wear larger sizes, as Kristen Harris, owner of the Designer Diva Consignment Boutique in Massachusetts, found out this week.

Luckily for Harris and the teen who came into her shop and went away empty-handed, an outpouring of support from Facebook meant that Harris' shopper wound up with an array of beautiful dresses to choose from.

On Sunday, Harris updated the Facebook page for her Abington, Mass. boutique shop with an urgent plea:

Ladies, Please share this status with everyone!!! I'm begging for plus size Prom Dresses Sizes 20+ I just had the most beautiful little girl in here and would could not find her size I want her to look like a Princess ....please please bring in your plus size Prom Dresses.

The women of Facebook responded. "I have a 22 that is stunning," replied Julie Mansfield-Coon. "Very couture." Another local dress store, Party Dress Express, pledged to deliver a wide selection of dresses to Designer Diva for the girl to choose from.

Dresses weren't the only thing supportive Facebookers offered. Numerous women and other local business owners stepped up to help make the girl's prom spectacular. The owner of a hair salon, Theresa Ward, offered to do the student's hair and makeup for free. Diana Tarr promised"a matching corsage and boutonnière." Dolly Hardy pledged a piece from her jewelry store collection. Tracy Smart volunteered a free prom night photography session. Local DJ Thomas Kirkpatrick offered to provide karaoke or live music for the girl's private prom party.

"If she is a junior and hasn't had her senior pictures taken yet, please tell her to contact Irish Eyes Photography in Weymouth and I'll make sure she feels as beautiful as she is in her portraits," vowed Kerry Railey.

As offers and phone calls poured in, Harris updated again, promising, "I will find you your dream dress!!! Someone already brought one in & I'll do everything in my power to get more. Please come back in & when you do the Dress is on Me." Then she added, " I don't want anyone of any size ever walking in my store and feeling this way again."

She also deflected praise, stating that she was "just a mom... and a woman [whose] heart was broken that I had nothing in her size to offer her."

But other Facebook users pointed out that Harris' efforts were important to more than just her unknown prom queen. "I have been in this young women's shoes in the past and this story breaks my heart and really hits home," wrote Laurie Devine. "You are doing a great thing."

"I'm literally tearing up," echoed Bec Pishkin.

I was this size in high school and I couldn't find a prom dress anywhere. I wound up having one made and it was just nothing like what I wanted. I'm so touched to see so many people reaching out to make this girl's prom everything it should be!

The plight of plus-size clothing wearers seemed to galvanize Harris, who urged readers to donate. "I want something in my store for everyone from a prom dress to pants," she wrote.

Eventually, Harris was able to locate the young woman, who messaged her via Facebook. Harris updated to say that she planned to have the young woman come in on Monday.

By that time, the whole of Southern Massachusetts might have joined the quest to give her the greatest prom night ever.

Photo via jhopgood/Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0

We've seen Internet culture usher in all kinds of new ways of using language, from emoticons to capslock as modern-day love poetry.

Now, MIT Media Lab is asking you to help them crowdsource animated GIFs in the search for a universal visual language.

We already know that we react to emoticons the same way we do to real human faces. But can we match real human faces to emotions? MIT researchers Kevin Hu and Travis Rich hope to amass a compendium of GIFs that express a broad range of universal human emotions, from joy to jealousy.

GIFGIF (we're pronouncing it "Gift-jiff") offers basic "this or that" quizzes to engage viewers in selecting the best animated GIFs to match specific emotions. The goal is to map the emotional language of Gifs "for science and delight," according to the project's Twitter. 

Each mini-quiz offers the user a choice between two GIFs or "neither" for various emotions. It's harder than you might think.

Pride? The Grinch or Dan Howell? How am I supposed to choose? Better go with Neither.

Wait, what? Am I voting on the basis of sad Romeo or on the basis of Leo's pride in the face of an Oscarless existence? Better go with Neither again.

Darren Criss or Darren Criss? This is impossible!

Though the quiz asks you to put on your thinking cap, it's all for a good cause.  The lab pulls GIFs from Giphy to create a searchable database of GIFs based on emotional spectrums. Additionally, the science gleaned from getting millions of people to vote on visual expressions of emotions could be used in a wide variety of disciplines from linguistics to neuroscience and psychology.

But the best part of all is that now you can search a ready-made database of reaction GIFs whenever you need to evoke a specific emotion. It's not a flawed map: I tried to find a reaction GIF for what happens when the average fangirl sees a picture of their beloved idol and came up empty. But I guess there are still some emotions that really can't be put into words. Thankfully, pretty soon we might have reaction GIFs for those, too.

Photo via atoach/Flickr

One glance at the cover of Fangasm and you might think you’re looking at a new Young Adult novel about two girls meeting a pair of hot boys on the coming-of-age road to wisdom. And in a sense, you wouldn’t be wrong.

Photo courtesy of University of Iowa Press

Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirlsis very much about the journey of two (fan)girls through the roads of fandom, and the various corners of pop culture that it touches. But despite the dreamy fictional appeal of Supernatural’s cadre of hot dudes, the life lessons these women learn are real ones.

One of the side effects of a post-Fifty Shades of Grey world is the demand for pop culture books about fandom. These include Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World and the recently announced Fan Fiction Studies reader, also from the University of Iowa Press. These works approach fandom from the standpoints of academics writing for a possibly mystified public. Most of them collect essays from knowledgeable academics about the basic principles and issues surrounding the fandom phenomenon.

Fangasm is to all those other books what Elle Woods is to Harvard. It unfolds like a nerdgirl answer to Hunter S. Thompson, only San Diego Comic Con has usurped Las Vegas as the desert mecca of the age and euphoria driven by slashfic replaces the drug-addled road trip. The fear and loathing has given way to squee and awe. It’s almost exactly as much of a pop culture manifesto as you’d expect from a book that doubles as a memoir about how two highly educated women with became obsessed with a show that airs on the CW Network.

What’s immediately noteworthy about Fangasm is that it’s every bit as concerned with schooling its audience in the general principles of fandom as other books, but it does so by dropping you into the melee of Comic Con and unleashing the concepts on you as experienced by its two bright-eyed protagonists, Lynn Zubernis and Katherine Larsen. Less than a page in, as a bedraggled Lynn and Kathy get in line outside the Supernatural Comic Con panel room—at 4 am, of course—the memoir busts out this gem:

The Powers That Be (TPTB) want and need to control the fans. The fans want and need to get close to the objects of their affection and are willing to do battle for that privileged position.

TPTB is a term of such inside baseball that the Daily Dot didn’t even include it in our basic beginner’s guide to fangirl terminology. But there’s a price for that kind of close-range study. At one point in Fangasm, the authors’ first publisher rejects nearly everything that makes the book sparkle: the regular academic perspectives, the embrace of racy fan practices, and any and all mention of controversy. That publisher’s loss is our gain: Fangasm isn’t just a book for fandom beginners, or for die hard fans, or for casual Supernatural fans, or studious academics. Somehow, it straddles numerous divides and finds itself accessible to everyone:

We couldn’t find ourselves—our fangirl selves—in the research. Some theories downright annoyed us. And most academics, we felt, had missed the point of fandom entirely, at least our version of fandom.

Fangasm’s version of fandom is female and fanwork-centric. It’s the kind of experience forged out of the depths of early Star Trek slash zines, evolved for Internet culture. The longer you move in online fandom, the more likely you are to have had countless experiences like the one Larsen relates of a friend asking in a breathless, worried undertone if she reads “the fan sites.” We aren’t yet comfortable admitting we know what fandom culture is, let alone that we’re actively involved. Fans—be they slash fans, Twilight fans, boy band fans, or any other kind—face constant dismissal and scorn from outsiders and popular media. Even with the mainstreaming of geek culture, fans, particularly female fans, have decades of censure to ward them off the fannish path. But as Larsen and Zubernis explain:

The thing is, it’s never a conscious decision: we don’t get to choose a fandom. It chooses us.

Fangasm is a title consciously chosen to evoke the sense of passionate desire of fans, a subject the book’s authors engage head on. Without apology, they describe zealotus fans and controversial subjects like Wincest and RPF (fiction about the actors themselves). The average reader, with no prior experience with Supernatural or the fandom, might feel lost in the monkey house. But the initial dizzying rush of anecdotes about Flying Fangirls and taboo fic subjects is all for the cause of getting to the good stuff. In Fangasm’s case, that’s a celebration of the female-centered community of fandom and a simultaneous critique of the social and internalized shame that women in fandom put themselves through.

Two Supernatural fans react to meeting Richard Speight Jr, who plays Gabriel on the show (Photo courtesy of University of Iowa Press)

Even more importantly, they take on a taboo of their own: breaking with the academic custom of seeing oneself as apart from the culture. Larsen and Zubernis tell you exactly what their fan activities are (writing Wincest and slash RPF of the two actors who play the Supernatural brothers) and place themselves squarely in the middle of the culture they’re critiquing. It’s less difficult to find wiggle room to criticize fangirls for their enthusiasm when the fangirls aren’t screaming teens but, respectively, a psychologist and a literary scholar. And it’s harder to see fandom itself as a freak subculture removed from the doings of “normal” people when the authors drive their kids to sports practice and squabble with their jealous significant others. The authors also take pains to show the ways that fan behaviors can be painfully misconstrued. One fan who had been taking other fans to visit Supernatural’s Vancouver set for years was mortified to learn that members of the production studio saw her as a “crazy” fan who offered “free stalker tours.” In an email to the authors, she not only shares her frustration, but a bitter insight:

As it turns out, all one needs to do to be considered a stalker is to show up to watch them film more than once. (!?!) If I had known this before it would have had a huge impact on my actions over the past year, but I always thought I was a good little fan who stayed out of the way and presented a positive voice online. Shows how much I know! lol. Apparently I’m public enemy #1 and the most feared fan in all the world! It’s funny, but the more I think about it, the more angry I get....  If I were a sports fan, would I be considered a stalker if I went to the practice games? I mean geez, what kind of a crazy person would be interested in seeing a preview of the action before all the regular fans?

Many of the insights in Fangasm will be familiar to fans who’ve had to voice similar defenses.

While fans reading from a more academic perspective might tune out during the details of numerous encounters with Supernatural actors and crew, Misha Collins fans might lament that he doesn’t occupy more of a central role in the narrative of these two unabashed J2 fans. (To which we say: Destiel fans, please write your own memoirs, and we will read them.) But what Fangasm delivers superbly is relatability that’ll be easily recognized by any fangirl. There’s a joy to seeing yourself in its two authors. Between giving the public an up-close view of the fangirl, and delivering plenty of anecdotes for Supernatural’s large fanbase, Fangasm has plenty of revelations for readers—especially those seeking to understand the fans in their own lives.

Photo via Chris Jackson/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Are you in a good mood because good things are happening to you, or because your Internet friends are happy?

A new study of more than 1 billion Facebook status updates suggests that if you're smiling, it's because your friends were smiling first.

Oh, and if you're unhappy, it's likely to be because one of your friends is getting rained on.

In a new study published in Plos, Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have found that good moods can spread like wildfire over the Internet. Positive posts lead to more positive posts from the people who read them. And negative posts spread bad moods just as easily.

The study sought ways to measure "emotional contagion" online, and the way massive social media networks influence mood spread. Over a three-year period from 2009 to 2012, researchers studied Facebook statuses in the top 100 most populous cities in the U.S. to determine how moods were spreading online.

To do this, they used rainfall as an instrument of a change in mood. Rainy weather, they found, increases the number of negative posts by 1.16 percent and depresses the number of positive posts by 1.19 percent.

After identifying locations where it was raining, the researchers looked at Facebook statuses to see if the unhappy, damp residents of those cities were transmitting their sour moods to people in other cities where it was sunny.

Sure enough, they were. Each additional negative Facebook status yielded 1.29 more negative status updates among the posts of their friends in non-wet cities. 

Positive posts did even better. Each additional positive post yielded an additional 1.75 positive posts among Facebook friends.

"It is possible that emotional contagion online is even stronger than we were able to measure," said lead author James Fowler, professor of political science in the Division of Social Sciences and of medical genetics in the School of Medicine at UC San Diego. Fowler noted that the spread might be even higher in cities where the moody status-updaters lived.

"We have a pretty good sense from other studies that people who live near each other have stronger relationships and influence each other even more. If we could measure those relationships, we would probably find even more contagion."

The researchers believe their findings have widespread implications. Emotions, they write, "might ripple through social networks to generate large-scale synchrony that gives rise to clusters of happy and unhappy individuals." And with ever more avenues for expression in a digitally connected world, they write, "we may see greater spikes in global emotion that could generate increased volatility in everything from political systems to financial markets."

It would seem that such spikes and synchrony are already happening. Earlier this week, national protests that began on Turkish social media spilled over into the streets as political protests, as the "emotional contagion" of outrage over the death of a 15-year-old boy spread.

The study also has profound implications for the study of mental health and patterns of emotional behaviors online. "If an emotional change in one person spreads and causes a change in many," said Fowler, "then we may be dramatically underestimating the effectiveness of efforts to improve mental and physical health."

"We should be doing everything we can to measure the effects of social networks and to learn how to magnify them so that we can create an epidemic of wellbeing," Fowler said.

In other words, getting caught up in waves of negative feeling among your online peers could be just as bad for you as undergoing emotional setbacks offline. And conversely, being a part of an outpouring of positive feeilng on the Internet can create a wave of positive forward momentum online.

Harnessed effectively, understanding how to catalyze positive and negative emotional spreads online could be powerful tools for everything from marketing to psychology.

It might even make us look forward to the next rainy day.

Mark Zuckerberg took to Facebook today for a rare rant calling for more transparency from the U.S. government regarding Internet security. The Social Network guru expressed thinly veiled chagrin, saying he's been "confused and frustrated" by the attempts of the NSA and other government organizations to access private information.

"To keep the Internet strong, we need to keep it secure," he wrote. "The U.S. government should be the champion for the Internet, not a threat."

Zuckerberg's rant, delivered via his Facebook page, didn't state precisely what the "behavior" was that he was reacting to. But the post comes just after reports surfaced that according to whistleblower Edward Snowden, the NSA used a fake copy of Facebook to infect individual computers with malware in order to access the contents.

Facebook claimed its implementation of login encryption meant that such a breach was no longer possible. But the idea of Facebook being used as a decoy for government spying tactics could explain Zuckerberg's anger.

"When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we're protecting you against criminals, not our own government," Zuckerberg stated.

The US government should be the champion for the internet, not a threat. They need to be much more transparent about what they're doing, or otherwise people will believe the worst.

I've called President Obama to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future. Unfortunately, it seems like it will take a very long time for true full reform.

Must have been one unsuccessful phone call. Zuckerberg closed with a call to Facebook users to "build the Internet" they want to see:

So it's up to us -- all of us -- to build the internet we want. Together, we can build a space that is greater and a more important part of the world than anything we have today, but is also safe and secure. I'm committed to seeing this happen, and you can count on Facebook to do our part.

Though Zuckerberg was vague on what Facebook's "part" is, Facebook audiences responded with overwhelming approval. At press time, 25,000 people had given Zuck and his stand against privacy invasions the thumbs up.

You can read the entire post below. 

Photo via crunchies2009/Flickr; CC BY-SA 2.0

Fans of Quidditch Through the Ages, J.K. Rowling's cheeky but fact-filled addendum to her Harry Potter series, have a new surprise waiting for them at Pottermore, Rowling's interactive post-Potter website where she reveals new tidbits and information about the wizarding world.

Potter fans and Quidditch players who log in to the site today will find the first of a two-part series on the sport and the history of the Quidditch World Cup—provided they can remember their login information, of course.

Pottermore has been criticized since its delayed launch for having a considerable barrier to entry—all Potter fans must take a Sorting Hat quiz to be sorted into their proper Hogwarts house before getting a username. It's also been criticized for taking too long to update information related to the series' seven books. Although it launched in 2012, its chapter-by-chapter interactive route through the books is only about halfway through Book 4. Fans have complained of having to progress through each chapter to get to their favorite parts, and then there's the months of waiting for new chapters to appear. 

But, this being Harry Potter, many trudged on through. As visitors progress through the site they can find rewards, accrue house points, and enjoy lovingly detailed artwork and graphic design that goes into every chapter. If you're not into interactive roleplaying and just want to read new info about the books, though, the structure can be frustrating.

As a result, Pottermore hasn't quite become the thriving community that fans and Rowling may have once envisioned. So it's nice to see new information turning up to bring its 7 million users back to the site.

The new Quidditch history shows up alongside Chapter 7 of Book 4, corresponding to Harry's trip to the Quidditch World Cup.  It was released in conjunction with Rowling's support of Scotland's rugby team. In a press release from Pottermore, the fantasy is alive and well:

J.K. Rowling is a world authority on Quidditch and has been writing about the sport since 1990. Royston Idlewild, former player and International Director of the ICWQC, described her as ‘perhaps the only person in the world who knows more about Quidditch than I do.’

So what new info can you find about Quidditch? The parallel with the Olympics is alive and well: the tournament occurs every 4 years, and is described in the new passage from Rowling as "simultaneously the most exhilarating sporting event on earth and a logistical nightmare for the host nation." She also inserts a parody of the rowdy and annoying noisemaker well-known to soccer fans, the vuvuzela. Rowling's version is called a "Dissimulator," and emits "loud cries of support and puffs of smoke in national colors."

We also learn a few important new World Cup rules, mainly, "[N]o dragon is to be introduced into the stadium for any purpose including, but not limited to, team mascot, coach or cup warmer."

And there are moments of infamous tournaments throughout the ages that will delight eager wizards and sports fans of all ages ("What had been a Quidditch match turned swiftly into a human versus tree battle").

Part two of the series will appear on the website next Friday, March 21.

Other recent turns in the Pottermore narrative have angered and upset some fans for erasing or "hijacking" the queer narrative many fans have had of both Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks.

So it's nice to see a new bit of Wizarding history we can all agree on: one that reminds us that battling violent spruce trees is never a good idea, and that Quidditch, just like Harry Potter, is awesome through the ages.

Screengrab via Pottermore

How do you defend yourself against an allegation that you orally raped a young model during what she thought would be a routine photoshoot?

If you're famed celebrity photographer Terry Richardson, you deny everything and blame the Internet.

Despite his well-known pattern of inappropriate behavior toward models and photo subjects, Richardson is a renowned photographer who's taken pictures of everyone from Miley Cyrus (nude) to President Obama (not nude). But he's facing a new wave of backlash after former model Charlotte Waters spoke out to give alarming details about her only session with him. These included the allegation that Richardson directed her during the session to perform oral sex on him and ended the shoot by jerking off in her face. Other allegations that Richardson attempted to coerce models into photoshoots in exchange for sexual favors have surfaced, both before and after Waters' confession.

In his four-paragraph defense in the Huffington Post, Richardson never directly addresses Waters' allegations, or any of the specific claims made against him that he solicited models for shoots on Skype by letting them know they'd be expected to perform sexual favors. Instead he suggests that he is coming forward to deliver the truth in a sea of lies.

Waters asserts that she had no idea what would happen in her photoshoot. Richard never actually denies this. He instead states that during a specific shoot in 2004, five years before Waters' shoot, he "collaborated with consenting adult women who were fully aware of the nature of the work."

Richardson also states that he "never used an offer of work or a threat of rebuke to coerce someone into something that they did not want to do." This claim contradicts a public transcript of Richardson allegedly offering to shoot a model, Felice Fawn, in exchange for sexual favors. In the transcript, the person claiming to be Richardson pressures the model to consent by saying "you said no, but thinking yes" after she's refused him multiple times, and then tells her angrily "then you need to work at mc donald, this is the lifestyle."

The closest Richardson comes to touching on the wide swathe of allegations of inappropriate behavior toward models is an assertion that he assumes all of his models can say "no" to anything they don't like:

I give everyone that I work with enough respect to view them as having ownership of their free will and making their decisions accordingly, and as such, it has been difficult to see myself as a target of revisionist history.

It's difficult to know what Richardson means by "revisionist history," especially since he seems to be exercising it himself. In the transcript of his Skype conversation with Fawn, he closes by saying "No worries, I never push." He says this after spending the whole history of their conversation doing just that, after the model attempts to say no and end the conversation no less than eight times.

Finally, Richardson attempts to center his editorial on the provacativeness of using sexual imagery in art. "People will always have strong opinions about challenging images," he says. But the current backlash he is facing has nothing to do with the moral issues of nude photography. The claims that have sparked outrage are much simpler:

Did he actually direct his model to perform sexual acts, then place his penis in her mouth, straddle her, and have an orgasm on her face? 

If he did the alleged act, did he get Waters' enthusiastic consent before it happened, or did he just assume, as he allegedly told Fawn, that she knew "how things go behind the scenes to get the fame"?

Richardson provides no answers to these questions, but rather suggests they're more complicated and nuanced than they perhaps are. He also suggests that the only victim of his years of alleged non-consensual behavior is himself:

Believing such rumors at face value does a disservice not only to the spirit of artistic endeavor, but most importantly, to the real victims of exploitation and abuse.

Rather than see the controversy as a way in for a conversation about what the boundaries of "art" are and what consent actually means and how to know when you've obtained it, Richardson's response is an attempt to derail the conversation altogether. Ultimately, his response is unlikely to make "real victims" of exploitation and abuse feel any safer—let alone real models.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons; CC BY 2.0

Last week, artist Tamara Smith was something of an Internet hero: The woman who gave Reddit a real reason to be mad at Anita Sarkeesian by claiming that the controversial Tropes vs Women creator stole her fanart.

Now, a week after the drama unfolded, she's been banned from Reddit after attempting to do an AMA. Although the AMA didn't mention Sarkeesian, the AMA mods allegedly felt it was just an excuse to talk about Sarkeesian anyway. And Reddit's none too happy about losing the opportunity.

After all, when you ran a notorious Kickstarter campaign that led to an onslaught of death threats, online abuse, and harassment, you might not want to give ammunition to your enemies in the gaming community and the "mens' rights activists" communities on Reddit and 4chan. Sarkeesian has angered plenty of people over her gaming critique project, Tropes vs Women in Video Games. But failing to ask permission before using artwork is a pretty big misstep on the Internet, even for someone who doesn't have such a polarizing history.

Smith is a gamer, fan, and professional gaming artist who was shocked a week ago to discover that her Dragon's Lair fanart, created in 2009, was prominently featured on Sarkeesian's logo for the Tropes vs Women in Video Games series:

"How do I deal with my artwork being stolen?" she asked in a Tumblr post.

I don’t know how to approach this. On one hand, the project had a message I can identify with. On the other, no credit was given, my signature was removed, and they made $150k+ ...

Silliest Part: they stole my fanart (drawn by a me, a woman and freelance video game artist) to use in marketing material to illustrate sexism in video games.

Sarkeesian compiled the logo for the video game series from a variety of sources and art styles, under the assumption that she had Fair Use of the artwork because she was repurposing its context. After Smith came forward to claim theft, she responded and said as much. But Smith wasn't convinced. Though Sarkeesian contacted her shortly after the Tumblr post went up, Smith stated that she was "still waiting for valid nonprofit proof" that Sarkeesian's work wasn't being used to make money.

It should be noted that the Fair Use exclusion of copyright law can and has applied to for-profit ventures. Fanart is another tricky subject, since it, too, involves encroaching on the work of the copyright holder. But even fanartists retain copyright over their works of fanart. Since Smith isn't sure Sarkeesian's use of her art falls under Fair Use, she has every right to call attention to it.

Last Saturday, Sarkeesian told the Daily Dot that she and Smith were "working towards a quick and amicable solution to this dispute. In order to reach an amicable solution, we will not be making any further public comments at this time."

Smith, however, has continued to comment. She updated her Twitter shortly after making her original Tumblr post to note that Sarkeesian had contacted her. But although she promised supporters she would update her Tumblr post "ASAP" to note that Sarkeesian was working with her towards a resolution, it took her nearly a full day to add the note. In the meantime, the post went viral, garnering thousands of notes on Tumblr, and landing on Reddit's front page.

As of today, when she updated her Tumblr to announce that she'd been banned from Reddit, angry Redditors demanded to know not only why she'd been banned, but why the post about the ban, which had over 3,000 upvotes at press time, had been yanked from the Reddit front page. Reddit mods also apparently removed it from r/all and r/gaming, despite cries of censorship and obvious bias.

The move on the part of Reddit mods may have been to prevent yet more death threats and harassment from coming Sarkeesian's way. Sarkeesian's detractors have claimed numerous reasons for their hatred, including criticizing her videos as shallow and uneducated looks at the games she criticizes. Some have even tried to fake evidence that she's a con artist. She also came under fire previously for using footage of other YouTubers' "Let's Play" videos in her own series. (She claimed the right of Fair Use then as well.)

After Smith's claim drew Reddit's attention last week, Sarkeesian was pelted with familiar abuse from the Internet:

On Twitter, Smith seemed alarmed at the personal attacks coming Sarkeesian's way, but given Sarkeesian's very public history of receiving harassment, she shouldn't have been.

This time, though, Redditors seem angrier at the Reddit mods than the Internet.

It appears that some of @femfreq fan base on Reddit are now doing their own cyber bullying. Bunch of hypocrites http://t.co/DSNfqhlqoN

— Oscar Gonzalez (@originalgamer1) March 15, 2014

@topredditposts admins really need to stop thinking that Anita Sarkeesian is anything else but a random person who tricked people for cash

— William Nowell (@WilliamNowell) March 15, 2014

Smith has promised that she will update when the matter has been resolved to her satisfaction—presumably when Sarkeesian proves to her satisfaction that she doesn't profit off her work.

In the meantime, Smith has provided the Internet a valuable lesson on copyright and basic etiquette in the age of the Internet:

When in doubt, always ask permission.

Disclosure: this reporter made monthly donations to Anita Sarkeesian's Feminist Frequency website between 2011 and 2013.

Illustration via Tropes vs Women, remix by Aja Romano

Austin: city of music. And, apparently, city of pretentious hipsters who knew about that band before you did. Even the ones that don't exist.

Just as they've done at other music fests like Coachella, Jimmy Kimmel sent his Lie Witness News team to the streets of Austin for SXSW's music festival.  This brave camera crew faced the madding crowds, and their even more madding tech-nerd fashion to find these gems of music-lovers: The ones who love music so much they're willing to roll with you when you start talking about music that doesn't even exist.

Our favorite is Fan #2, who happily informs you at 1:15 that she thinks a band named What the Fuck, Bruce Jenner? is "right on point" with another band named Neil Patrick Harassment. Her enthusiasm is so great, we're starting a crowdfund campaign for these two bands to go on tour together.

"Everybody's like, YouTube this, YouTube that," says Fan #3, about a non-existent album called Toxic Shock Syndrome.

If a hipster pretends to be hip on the streets of Hipsterville, do we laugh or cry?

Screengrab via YouTube

By now the year has gotten well and truly underway, and you might be having some trouble keeping your New Year's resolutions.

That's why, when we stumbled across this epic motivational video from 2010, we decided to offer it up to overachievers everywhere.

As you watch the unknown optimist in this blurry low-res video, ask yourself:

Who are you in the metaphorical road of life?  Are you the board, or are you the breaker?

Or are you the migraine this poor guy had after hitting himself over the head multiple times with giant pieces of wood?

It's not just that the boards won't break. It's not just that as you're pleading with our unknown hero to just spare himself already, he whips out a second board. No, it's the sheer unequalled beauty of his profound belief that if he wants it hard enough, the board will succumb to his will. It's a metaphysical experiment unfolding before our eyes. Is Schroedinger's board whole or broken? If a board breaks in the forest of good intentions, does it matter? If not now, when?

Too often in life we ask ourselves what our boards can do for us, when what we should be asking is where we can find just one more board.

That's all we need. Just one more board. Let this be your new mantra. Break or break not. There is no cry.

Do it for the guy who probably concussed himself in the name of will power.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

It's no secret that open-source coding community GitHub is one noted branch of a tech culture that continually struggles with sexism at every level.

Now, a leading female developer at GitHub is calling it quits, lashing out at what she calls a culture of toxicity.

I regret defending GitHub's culture to feminists for the last two years. I'm sorry to everyone I've hurt in doing so.

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) March 15, 2014

Just over a year ago, Julie Ann Horvath created Passion Projects, GitHub's women-friendly outreach program designed to teach more women to code, get them interested in being a part of GitHub's open-source community, and hire them to work for GitHub.

But last night on Twitter, after praising a successful Passion Projects event, she unexpectedly did an about-face, confirming she was leaving GitHub at the end of the month and launching into a series of accusations against GitHub's "systematically fucked" culture of bullying and harassment.

Here is a sampling of Horvath's statements on Twitter:

I've been harassed by 'leadership' at GitHub for two years. And I am the first developer to quit.

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) March 15, 2014

I'm incredibly happy to moving on to join a more healthy work environment, with a team who doesn't tolerate harassment of their peers.

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) March 15, 2014

Don't stand for aggressive behavior that's disguised as "professional feeback" and demand that harassment isn't tolerated.

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) March 15, 2014

My only regret is not leaving or being fired sooner. What I endured as an employee of GitHub was unacceptable and went unnoticed by most.

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) March 15, 2014

In one day, all of the work I've done at that company to be a better place for women to work has come undone.

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) March 15, 20140

While at GitHub, Horvath worked to change tech culture to be more woman-friendly. Last year, in the wake of the tech community's backlash against Adria Richards over #Donglegate, she wrote an eerily prophetic missive of her struggle:

I've tried my best to point things out that are fundamentally wrong within organizations I'm a part of, and have often been dismissed or given the ultimatum of keeping quiet or losing my job.

I've digested those experiences, have tried my best to move past them, and instead of continuing to lend power to people who thrive on conflict, have decided to focus my energy toward making my own company and this industry a better place for women to be. It makes me really sad to think that I could be martyred for this.

She's not alone in her frustration. Last fall, a community member of GitHub's code base, Ruby on Rails, blogged about being sexually harassed by her own boss while attending a Ruby conference. She later deleted her post due to receiving an onslaught of victim-blaming, rape, and death threats. Last night, Selena Deckelmann, the Passion Projects speaker for the evening's event, spoke of women needing to cease trying to change the existing, white-male-dominated tech community, and start trying to make their own, new tech spaces:

@amysue key i think is making our own things. Building our own system, not trying to fix existing.

— Selena Deckelmann (@selenamarie) March 15, 2014

Meanwhile, on the anonymous iPhone app Secret, a GitHub employee using the name "greenshirt" aired numerous accusations of incompetence and "a history of RAGING against any professional criticism:"

.@getsecret told me they took down a post that's attempting to assassinate my character. They didn't. It continues. pic.twitter.com/JKCHH1prC6

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) March 15, 2014

As greenshirt urged current employees of GitHub to form "a safe [anonymous] place where we can talk," Horvath said, "I have never wanted to quit tech more than after having startup PTSD like this."

Horvath found plenty of supporters both from within and without the GitHub community:

I really used to think GitHub was cool. Between Passion Projects and training videos and engineering blogs, I could almost see myself there.

— Ben Hutchison (@Aldaviva) March 15, 2014

But having a culture that's so toxic that you can't keep Julie Ann Horvath happy is what's called a dealbreaker.

— Ben Hutchison (@Aldaviva) March 15, 2014

But with women like Horvath packing up and leaving, it may take even longer for that culture to see real change.

Photo via dasprid/Flickr; CC BY-SA 2.0

Loving your body is never easy, especially on the Internet, where superficial judgments are dished out like candy. For women of size, every selfie is an act of empowerment.

Or so Fatshion blogger Rachele Cateyes thought until a diet company stole her bikini photo and used it in a weight loss promotion on Facebook.

The blogger did a whole photoshoot based around the cute "fatkini" look in July of last year, along with a message of self-love:

Wearing a bikini as a fat woman is an act of rebellion. I felt glorious and glamorous all at the same time. I wore my stretch marks as ribbons of honor and let the sun kiss my lumpy thighs and arms without a care in the world.

Photo via Nearsightedowl

But earlier this month, Rachele realized that one of the photos from that shoot was showing up on the Facebook page for the diet company Venus Factor. "They used my over the sunglasses expression to say, "Hey, don't be a fat fuck like me!" which was really supposed to say, "I am a fat confident lady that feels awesome in this bikini," she wrote on her blog, after a coworker told her they'd seen her on the page.

Photo via Nearsightedowl

“It made me feel exposed and not in control of my own image,” Cateyes told Yahoo Shine. “I’m used to negative attention [online], but for somebody to make money off of me? That really infuriated me.”

Though the company appears to have removed Cateyes' photos from its Facebook site, Venus Factor has plenty of other instances of fat-shaming posts remaining.

And don't trust the before/after photos, either: Last year another blogger discovered a diet website had stolen her time-lapse photos from over a year of dieting and compressed them into an ad for 30-day weight loss.

Looks like your best bet to a body you love is to avoid visiting dieting websites.

And watermark your fat pride and weight loss photos before you put them on the Internet.

Photo via Nearsightedowl