R.I.P. Dad (May 25: A Joyful Remembrance)
You’re furious. I never taught you to sing. You carry rocks in your head and pitch them. Without warning. Happy drunk. You’re furious. I beg you for sin. I beg your skin. You buy a whore. Don’t give her water. You’re furious.
That’s the news out of KGW this morning. In addition to the financial settlement, the government issued an apology and, according to Mayfield’s attorneys, admitted its covert physical searches and electronic surveillance of Mayfield’s home and law office. Mayfield also issued a statement on the settlement.
With less than two weeks to go before Flanvention II, its organizers have suddenly posted the following message to their website.
Boosters is experiencing financial difficulties. We are doing everything in our power to facilitate Flan 2, but at this point, it is uncertain that we will be able to obtain financing in time for the event. We will update you daily in the Flan 2 forum. Anyone with airline tickets who might want to cancel, will need to do so immediately. If we are unable to obtain the needed financing by Friday, Dec. 1st, the event will be cancelled.
This, of course, is a sold-out event, and many of the tickets (for attendance and extras) were purchased ahead of time, beginning as early at this past January.
It was just the other week, in the wake of Nathan Fillion taking the unusual step of going public on his blog with problems his people were having regarding communication with BE, that all the little BE minions came out of the woodwork to talk about how BE were miracle workers and everything was just fine.
Want to watch a fanbase have a collective meltdown and prepare to the possibility of going to rhetorical war against event organizers? Watch the WHEDONesque thread. And don’t forget to watch the Booster thread itself.
Addendum: I am officially nominating BE Screwed as the unofficial, if not the official, name for any replacement, last-minute, fan-organized event. For what it’s worth, unless it’s just poor writing, the BE notice does read as a pre-cancellation notice of cancellation, rather than a warning of potential cancellation. Just with what little is known now, I expect a rash of agents calling to cancel their respective actors tomorrow, if the calls haven’t started already.
For what it’s worth, Booster Entertainment is an Oregon company, which (as it turns out) failed to renew with the Secretary of State’s Corporation Division by October 7 of this year, ven after receiving notice of the due renewal on October 20.
Addendum: There’s a fan-run hotline blog and forum on all of this now.
Tonight I discovered what damp pavement in streetlight looks like. Crossing the street from Lloyd Center to the bus stop, I thought for a moment I must be looking at some of that new-fangled pavement the City wants to test. The lights were so crisp and sharp amidst the tiny crinkles, nooks, and crannies.
But then I saw it again when I was three blocks from home. The same new-looking sparkle and dance of light.
So I removed the first pair of glasses I’ve had in much more than a decade. That’s when I discovered that’s simply what damp pavement in streetlight looks like.
If you happen to Google for Great Light Way, the first four hits all are me. From the earliest photograph I’ve yet found (and posted to Flickr), to items posted here, to material posted to Portland Histories, to the original entries on Portland Communique.
Basically, it’s my story. I own it and I need to finish it. I know where to look, and I know the next round of things to look for.
Had I known that the deadline for this was at the start of November, I would have applied and made the funded mad dash at trying to finish telling the story.
Did I mention that ‘Lie Boyles (nee Emilie Oy) is blogging now? Today she mentions an item from the Committee of Concerned Journalists in which they peg as their “tool of the week” a short list of what citizens should expect from the press.
The list is a shortened version of the one I used on Portland Communique, taken from The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel.
What’s interesting is that Boyles apparently believe certain things should be expected from the press that aren’t to be expected from, say, publicly-funded candidates for office.
“We should expect, above all,” the writers of CCJ say, “truthfulness.” This is certainly true, of course. But we should also expect truthfulness from publicly-funded candidates, rather than accusations of a vast Sten-wing conspiracy against them, coupled with blaming their troubles on being poor, or disabled, or Christian.
“We should expect proof,” the writers of CCJ say, “that the journalists’ first loyalty is to citizens.” This is certainly true, of course. But we should also expect a loyalty to citizens from publicly-funded candidates, rather than a stubborn refusal to take responsibility for their own actions.
“We should expect journalists,” the writers of CCJ say, “to maintain independence from those they cover.” This is certainly true, of course, and much of this has to do with refraining from any conflicts of interest. But we should also expect publicly-funded candidates from engaging in conflicts of interest, such as using public funds to pay personal bills or hiring their children to spam online discussions groups at an exorbitant rate of pay.
“We have the right to expect that journalists will monitor power,” the writers of CCJ say, “and give voice to the voiceless.” This is certainly true, of course. But we should also expect publicly-funded candidates who see themselves as watchdogs to not also see themselves as above being the subject of other watchdogs.
“We have a right,” say the writers of CCJ, “to a forum for public criticism and problem solving.” This is certainly true, of course. But we should also expect publicly-funded candidates to not blame the press for their problems when what the press is doing is reporting on the problems which already exist, and which said candidate or candidates caused entirely on their own to begin with.
“We have a right,” say the writers of CCJ, “to expect news that is proportional and relevant.” This is certainly true, of course. But we should also expect publicly-funded candidates to not engage in irrelevancies, such as blaming being poor, disabled, or Christian for their problems, rather than blaming themselves for their misacquisition and misspending of public monies.
For hypocritically proclaiming what citizens should expect from the press while at the same time believing that the citizens of Portland should have not expectations of her, and for proclaiming that the press has a job to do properly as long as they don’t do it properly when she’s the one being reported upon, I proclaim ‘Lie Boyles (nee Emilie Oy) to be the Tool of the Week.
So, am I allowed to be a little consternated at the fact that with about two weeks to go before Flanvention II down in Burbank, the news comes directly from Nathan Fillion that apparently his people haven’t actually been hearing properly from Flanvention’s people and there’s no firm arrangement for him to be there?
Without dismissing the “rough times” of at least one of the organizers (things happen, legitimately), when one of them admits that “I didn’t check my emails and so they were concerned” and “his management was edgy because they couldn’t reach me” — well, let’s just say it starts to make me wonder if the lack of certain other cast members really is because of schedule conflicts and the like, or because someone dropped the ball.
Given how much money people shell out to go to events put on by this particular organization (primarily because attendance is capped at 500 people and so there’s more interaction between ticket-holders and cast/crew), to have this revelation pop up at nearly the last minute doesn’t smell particularly professional.
Addendum: Presumably this is moving to a resolution, since Nathan appears to have removed the post.
