It's good to see that ETA because 's kind of a weird point even though I agree about mindful giving.

A. People quite probably are donating to other causes alongside the Icebucket challenge, just more quietly and regularly - I've got regular donations going out, but I will also donate to on the spot campaigns like Children in Need's big yearly drive

B. Tons of causes use marketing to drive larger donations - as in the book world marketing is important in increasing visibility because there's so much noise out there, and it's an inevitable reality because charity is not a meritocracy

C. The idea that there will always be another worthy cause you may have to say no to is always heartbreakingly true unless you are a multi-millionaire. You've got to be careful to give to good charities that effect change to make the most of your money, but just because a charity has a big celeb filled marketing push doesn't make them an ineffective charity or a charity that doesn't need money. The indicators of a bad or unnecessary campaign are... different than this.

I saw this interview with the founders of Live Aid once where they said it's incredibly sad that in order to get people to donate so much money you've got to have celebrities involved and offer some kind of gift trade off, but as it appears to be the reality that's what celebrities will keep on doing. They also talked about the genuine effect of celebrity on foreign policy (leaders want to hang out with rock stars and they want them to think well of them) which was more disturbing.

Also, I didn't know John Green had meningitis - how scary for him and his family.

24 is coming back? I would have so many series to catch up on...

And for World War Z vs Pacific Rim, I saw them both in the cinema on the same day and I feel the way you feel about PR - the world building opening and credits was great and then it just didn't do it for me. I think it might be a Brad Pitt reaction and the bit where they killed a guy out of Casualty (the Dr on the plane). The bit I reeeeallly liked though was the end where he had to go into the lab. Oh and the wall climbing zombies. Mostly though I just really wanted there to be a Feed movie instead.

On related note, I saw you say you really liked Parasite (me too but not as much as Feed) and was wondering if you'd posted/were going to post thoughts?

It's in the first ep - when Jack moves Will's glasses he asks him if he's on the spectrum and Will outlines his position sarcastically. And there's a gif out there of the moment that explains Will's glasses are perfectly positioned to allow him to avoid direct eye contact until Jack moves them.

I just watched Ep 6 (The Eddie Izzard one) and this shoooow. I love how we can start seeing exactly what Hannibal is up to and how devious he is now (the bit where he askes Jack if he'd ever lost a pony in Ep 2 I think and HE KNEW ALL ALONG BECAUSE HE KILLED THE PONY).

I wondered too. Sigh - fanwork is a huge time suck. I mean, it's fun and worthwhile, but still, looking at it practically, it steals a lot of your time. And as much as we all love being net fans, eventually I think there's going to come a time with a huge, scheduled project where your love just can't compete with the practical unless you've got a huge support chain. Which is sad, but real. And there are so many projects, everyone wants to get their individual stuff off the ground (including me) that I think it makes it hard to gather that support sometimes... Which I guess is part of why we build smaller communities within the community, for reliable support.

I'm trying to think of projects that could replicate this and I think you're onto something about cancelled shows with loyal fanbases having the best chance. When your canon source is cut off, everyone wants more canon as long as it's great right? I'd certainly pay for a Merlin film to deal with that too fast ending, no matter how much great free fanfic there is around. So, Whedon has a good chance and I think the Merlin team could make a film happen if they wanted to.

Concerns about big business profiting off the back of fans are valid, good point to bring up. I do think that if we went to see the films they'd also profit, so now its kind of like they just like they had the best turn out for a project ever right + know the project has a guarenteed audience so they're more likely to push the marketing and distribution?

And perhaps I'm naive, but I kind of hope so much profit for a film about a lady and so much support for this project will influence the projects they make with their own money later (ok that is naive, people in business are bad at interpretting what large amounts of support actually suggest is popular apparently, but we can dream).

Intrigued and added to my list. Is this the short review you were talking about? I really like the analysis you've put in here and I can see it taking ages to get what you were saying right (doesn't writing anything seem to take forever?)

I'm 3 discs in (so 'bout 15 eps) - stopped to watch S1 of Korra. But my post about the 2nd disc is in development right now :D

A vote would be good :D

I am going to vote for a post based on my post with no shame :P But I also want the Borgen one so I can read it when I can watch S2 (Jan they're saying now!).

And I totally get the feelings of frustration from not knowing what to do to help the world/your country. I know you read aid commentary and I think the more you read of that the more you realise the difficulties of really making a difference. It's good to be educated, but it can be depressing to see how many ineffective strategies the indiidual is encouraged to participate in and how difficult it is to help with change unless that's part of your job/you can volunteer during normal working hours. I've been struggling with these kind of feelings all year and election times around the world make these concerns come to the front don't they? You can always drop me frustration e-mail if you want someone to talk things through with.

In my opinion there are four films where Keanu acts well (and two of those have Bill & Ted in the title) - not a fan of his acting, but he seems like a good guy in interviews.

Oh and this: http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1096237.html is why it got nominated :D I really enjoyed it, because man was it slashy and all about bros together/typical male adrenaline/conflicted male relationships and sports culture. All stuff I love to see in media. Liked the sky diving in particular. And it was pretty funny in places, on purpose :D

But Tyler got shafted right? At first I thought she was going to get a great role, but in the end she was bait who doesn't even get to be in the final scene. I was telling Renay that the actress who plays her is in League of Their Own (female baseball history) so maybe you might want to fllow her into that film (she says with absolutely nothing emotionally invested in that film whatsoever).

Really made me want to see The Hurt Locker now. Oh and I don't know if you've seen it but the end where Keanu's partner dies (which I wasn't expecting) reminded me a little of The Departed. Everybody dies - no amnesty!