Shiny new Smiley Town *bling*

[Gavin Luper]

Hi everyone. I'm alive and just thought I'd say hi since I haven't posted here for eons. I'm in the middle of researching the Apocalypse for English ... it sucks.

Hey I just saw that Michael Jackson got out of his trial for having the flu. What a dingus.

Opinions on the man, people?

I think his songs were awesome (Thriller is a personal favourite between me and my mates) but he himself is a moron beyond words.

[The Decapitated Mole]

Wow, this sure has become Smiley Town.

Also, happy Easter to everyone! I actually had a pretty good one, cause first I woke up, right? Then we had my mom's service at the church at like one, and I saw all my family and friends from old times, and after the service, we had my entire extended family that was there [meaning... Uncle Les, Uncle Pedo[don't ask], Uncle Dave, Uncle Allen, Aunt Laurie, Aunt Wendy, Aunt Jean, Cousin Pam, Cousin Mary, Cousin Matt, Cousin Noah, Cousin Ike, Cousin Eliza, Cousin Joby, me, my brother, my dad, and our dog, which is more people than have EVER been in our house] for a party with dinner and dancing, but without the dancing, and it was pretty cool, and then I didn't go to school monday because I was feelin kinda blue, and I had 2 projects due, hey that rhymes, I can do it too! and then today the bus drivers came and told us there was no school, the details of which can be found in The Life of a Headless Mole chapter 15 - Bomb Threat! So that was my easter. Now, after that party, we have a ridiculous amount of soda that I will probably go through within a week [60 cans?! I spit on 60 cans!] and i got an easter basket from my aunt! So I just gotta hope that it'll be smooth sailing from here, and that I can get that project that I stayed home to do yesterday but still didn't done.

o_0
jimm

[mr_pikachu]

Since we've got the forums back now, I guess I ought to ask the question that's been on my mind lately. Are we going to have the Golden Pen Awards this summer (or winter if you live in the southern hemisphere), or will it be skipped due to all the recent chaos on TPM? Just thought I'd bring it up, since we're a few weeks into summer over here now.

[dratinihaunter13]

Hope Smiley Town comes back soon (thought it didn't seem right that the forum hasn't been posted in for a month...)

Let's just make this topic smiley town. i'm beginning to think some topics just aren't coming back, since LV can just link to her old chapters and my fic's been wiped off. either way, we still need a place to talk amongst ourselves . i'll sticky and rename the topic.

[Chris 2.1]

Whoo! At least these GP's won't accuse me of high blood pressure

*crickets/silence/any noise suggesting nobody is laughing*

Anywho yea I'm for it. GO GP's!

[mr_pikachu]

Well, if the awards are on then I suppose I should get back to my regular reviewing habits... tomorrow! (Go procrastination!) I've got a lot to catch up on, thankfully. And I guess I should finally publish another fic chapter, since it's been several months.

Yeah, I'll do that. Tomorrow.

Before I forget, did you get any news about your audition, Chris? *crosses fingers* :smilie:


P.S. Hey, wait a second... I have the first post in the new Smiley Town! Woohoo! :biggrin:

[Darien Shields]

Hey. I haven't been paying attention... again. Well, I'm here now. I'll help out with the GPs if it is required, although I really don't know anything about them... I hardly even knew I'd been nominated in the Silver Pencils earlier (was that last year?) until Iveechan or someone IMed me half way through. Huh, well, anyway!

I'm just sittin' on my hands these days, playin' WoW, downloading fansubbed sentai and stuff, so I'd be able to work on this. Or writing... *scratches chin*

Oh, and huzzah for the return of Smiley Town.

[Lady Vulpix]

I missed the Silver Pencils too.

[Andrew]

Hey guys, I'm pretty much moving out of home on the 1st August if all goes to plan.

This'll be brilliant for me, because well... its MOVING OUT!

I won't have a Tv or a Pc, but I'll be like.. LIVING! HURRAH! I may be getting 200 dollars to live off of per fortnight after rent, but I am MOVING OUT! And so I'm also looking for a job....

So yes, this is all funded by me, not my mum or father, so I'm planning on scamming the tax department in order to get a new PC. You know, if all goes to plan. Otherwise, I'm going to have to save for one.

Mind you, I'll still be able to use the uni Pcs during that time before I get my own and yea

Just letting you all know.

(Copied and pasted from Mod forum) LOLS

[mr_pikachu]

Hey, way to go, OzAndrew! That's certainly good news. I just hope that you're able to get your hands on a computer of your own...

Yeah, I think some more awareness about the Golden Pen Awards might be nice. I think quite a few people were unaware about the last Silver Pencils.

I'd be willing to help with the Golden Pens too, if there's anything you trust a non-mod to do. :smilie:

[PancaKe]

^_^

I am so flat out with school work I should be doing.

I'm grumpy at my bf.

I'm tired because last night I stayed up till 3 am with friends watcing Spanglish and Hide n Seek. Both pretty cool *Shrugs* Could bitch about them but - alas - I am le tired.

About the awards... I will help with them - I have all the old files and stuff somewhere.... but as for running them, thsi time I think I will sit out. *sigh* I just cant handle it at the moment sorry!!!! But I will help out with stuff if need be. ^_^;

Anyhoo

xoxo
bye

[Darien Shields]

Whatever happened to the post about 'what would your fic opening/ending tune be?' (i.e. if it were a TV show)

That had some merit... I can't see it on the forums now. I'll 'ave a look for it and post another one if I can't find it...

How is everyone, BTW? Nobody's talking as much as we usually do. Summer must be a busy time ^_^;

Anyone seen "Batman Begins"? I really want to see it, but my friends keep bailing on me ~_~.

[Chris 2.1]

Guys: No nws on the audition yet. Should hear soon, like, really soon. *waits*

[The Decapitated Mole]

Yeah, I've been doing more this summer than ever before, which is really good, because it means I'm getting a helluva lot of excercise [not because of what I'm doing with my friends, but because they all live about five miles away and I have to ride my bike EVERYWHERE(including the eye doctors when my glasses broke, ~_~)], which would be really good for soccer next season except that I decided not to play for the school this year in protest of the school board deciding that you have to pay to play sports [which I wouldn't really have too much of a problem with if I didn't know why. Friggin' school board running out of money cause they built a useless new high school school[for a while they were actually talking about closing an elementary school, eliminating Kindergarten throughout the city, and getting rid of all bussing for high schoolers], and they tried to sue the board of Aldermen about a month ago because they wouldn't let them raise the superintendent's pay to 150,000 dollars a year [a steep raise from the current 125,000 salary he's getting now]. Sound fair to you? But I've ranted about this subject since the first day I walked into the friggin high school, which I'm sure I'll post another rant about eventually, seeing as the ones I had in the old smiley town/everywhere else are gone. Oh well, good luck with your audition, Chris, I hope you got the part! And Darien, I haven't seen Batman Begins, but I've heard it's the best live-action batman movie to date [a few of my friends have seen it twice!], so I'd say check it out.

o_0
jimm

[mr_pikachu]

Tara: Sorry to hear things are going that way. Well, hopefully they'll get better soon. Speaking of the Golden Pen Awards, what happened to them? I haven't heard any discussion about them in awhile...

Darien: Hey, get on AIM if you want to chat! I've been on there several times in the last few days. No, I haven't seen Batman Begins. I haven't heard much about it myself.

Chris: Well, I hope to hear about it soon! Good luck, again! :smilie:

Jimm: ...Wow, that's a long rant... I hope the protest goes well. Sounds like your school's pretty messed up right now. And BB's that good, huh? Hmm. Well, I guess it's at least worth looking into, despite my usual lack of interest in superhero movies.


Everyone: The Fanfic Trivia Game is BACK! That's right, people! The Writers Lounge is again hosting the one and only game to challenge, intrigue and excite the members of Fanfic! So get over there and get in the game!

[Darien Shields]

Darien: Hey, get on AIM if you want to chat! I've been on there several times in the last few days. No, I haven't seen Batman Begins. I haven't heard much about it myself.

It's a little thing called sleep perhaps you've heard of it? The Land of Nod had deported me for a while, but after working through a lot of paperwork they took me back, and I'm just enjoying it =P

Seriously, though, I had to go to bed early-ish to do things with my friends. See, when I'm not at school I usually operate on "Dartopian Time". That is I stay up until the not-so-small hours (sixish. Although some good kids TV like Pokemon comes on around eight or nine, sometimes I stay up for that) and then go to bed, and awake sometime between lunch and dinner (as a consequence of this I've started having lunch in the middle of the night.) However, when I want to go to friends', or have friends over, I have to try and sleep early... it's awkward. Why can't everyone just embrace the night, like me? ^_^ Anyway, since Mr Pikachu only logs on in the tiniest and queerest window of time (my best theory is that it's the only window of time when his planet's orbit is close enough to earth to connect to AIM) I can only talk to him if I stay up to around sixish. >_< Freakin' timezones. I say we just spite the sun, declare a universal day, and have half the world work in the middle of the night.

I just saw Batman Begins (with my family, since my lame-ass friends all bailed, even after I got up at 2pm) and it a-{insert string of obscentities here}-mazing. Best Batman movie ever, hell, best Super-Hero movie ever (sorry Spidey. Mary Jane ruined it for you.) The casting's great (Christian Bale is an excellent Bruce Wayne. My only gripe would be his Batman Voice sounds a bit weird), oh, mild spoiler warnings (if you don't know what bad-guys are in the film), Alfred's excellent (not really the same as the Alfred you remember, but still good), Ra's Al Ghul is perfect (looks right, acts right, fights right), the Scarecrow is mother-fsking scary with and without his mask, (not-quite) Comissioner Gordon is great too, you can see him totally growing into the guy in the animated series, Morgan Freeman's character is great too. The effects are brilliant, nothing ever looks too CGI (unlike *cough*Episode III*cough*), in fact, the only thing that I can think of off hand that is definately CGI, are the bats when they're flying everywhere, and the only reason I can say that is because using that many live bats would scare the pants off any of the actors. The story's brilliant too, works on its own while linking to the sequel.

If it weren't for the prospect of the two sequels, I'd pretty much call it quits now and commit suicide, because it would look like the appex of human achievement, with nothing else we could do to top it.

Just kiddin'. But it is good. You'd have to have a really good reason not to see it.

New Harry Potter book is out. I didn't intend to buy one just yet, but my parents seem to have snatched a copy already, so I'm gonna have a read. I hope Harry dies at the end of this one, because I'm a saddistic guy ^_^

[mr_pikachu]

Actually, Darien, it's usually about two in the morning over here when we chat. So it's not just your planet that's got bad time zones; mine is awful as well.

And about the Harry Potter book... well, if it wasn't for the inherent spoilers in the official HP6 thread in Entertainment (within Misc.), I'd direct you there for my comments. I'll put it this way: Although pretty much everyone in the discussion there either disagrees or is ignoring me, I happen to believe that there are things in the book that should not be read by ten-year-olds. I've held a few offline discussions about it with some of my friends, and it would appear from those conversations that there's more to it than simply my naivety about today's pre-adolescents. But I'll let you form your own opinions, and I won't spoil any plotlines. I'm nice that way. Or something.

Anyway, I've gotta go for the moment, but I'll see you all around (*coughFanficTriviaGamecough*)!

[The Decapitated Mole]

Bleh bleh bleh. I don't know about all of you, but when I was 10 I was swearing more than I do now, and we had sex-ed in fifth grade [ok, so I was ELEVEN, so sue me] at my school. I happen to live under the philosophy that nothing is offenseve except racism. And the number of teens and adults who read the Harry Potter books now are significantly greater than the number of ten-year-olds, because the first harry potter books came out in the nineties, and the fans who were all little kids then have grown up with the series, and many adults have jumped on board as well. And Rowling can't keep pandering to little kids, especially since the books are about 16-18 year olds, and you can't expect them to go around acting like they're still 10 and 11, because nobody does that. I hope.

I would've posted that in the Harry Potter topic, you know, but I can never think of the right thing at the right time and going back there now is a whole thing... But I really don't want to get into, like, an argument about this or anything, because I get into this type of argument with tons of people and I'm sick of having it. I just don't get offended easily.

Hey, Mr. Pikachu, you just signed on! Whata coincidence because I have to go! Thanks for the support regarding my protest, though. Maybe it'll make some impact. You never know, with me being the president now maybe my actions will have consequences. That's a scary thought.

o_0
jimm

[mistysakura]

Well, on the topic of Harry Potter, I didn't post in Misc because I don't really go there and also I've discussed it quite a bit offline, but anyway I do agree that some things would not be suitable for kids. Like Dumbledore around chapter... 23-25-ish? (Can't refer to the actual event as I don't like spoilers myself and know how they ruin books for others.) However I do agree with TDM that although these are on the children's bookshelves, it is only appropriate for Rowling to deal with more mature and darked themes as the books progress. Although some people I know have said that Rowling's doing it on purpose for whatever reason, the wizarding world's at war, Voldemort's gaining power, and surely it would be unrealistic not to deal with dark matter by this stage. (Am not implying anyone in this thread said she shouldn't.) It is a bit sad to think of the children who are Harry Potter fans, but I personally think that I'd rather have a more realistic, better book than one appealing to all audiences.Although I'm curious as to what rating the 6th moviewill have.

[Darien Shields]

You think that's bloody, you ought to hear my new fan fic idea.

The title abbreviation is HPatBR

C'mon, guess what it is!

Omniscient Judge: Mr Pikachu is not allowed to guess, since I told him the answer.

[The Decapitated Mole]

Harry Potter and the Battle Royale!

o_0
jimm

[Darien Shields]

Harry Potter and the Battle Royale!

o_0
jimm

Dammit. You're right.

[mr_pikachu]

Ada: Actually, that wasn't even what I meant. Themes like that don't disturb me as much as... uh... some of the other issues that appeared earlier. (I've got a headache, so I don't want to think about how to be clearer to you and yet more vague to others.)

Jimm and Darien: Ha! That was good. Perhaps your abbreviation was too obvious, Darien?


I'm actually online at a halfway decent time tonight. Joy! :biggrin: And the Fanfic Trivia Game is back up and running. Double joy! :biggrin::biggrin: And the Golden Pen Awards haven't happened yet. Tri---

Wait... :p

[Darien Shields]

Jimm and Darien: Ha! That was good. Perhaps your abbreviation was too obvious, Darien?

I'm actually online at a halfway decent time tonight. Joy! :biggrin: And the Fanfic Trivia Game is back up and running. Double joy! :biggrin::biggrin: And the Golden Pen Awards haven't happened yet. Tri---

Wait... :p

What sort of abbreviation would you suggest? One that's not based on the actual name of the idea?

Well, anyway, I'm still in love with the idea of "Harry Potter and the Battle Royale". I'll assume you all know who and what Harry Potter is- if you don't this idea couldn't possibly be very interesting, but anyway, if you don't know what <I>Battle Royale</I> is, then read <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Royale">this</A>, the Wikipedia article about it. Put in the simplest of terms, it's when you take a class of high-school kids, dump them on an island, give them weapons, and tell them that only one can live, and that they must kill everyone else to get out. Ooh, wouldn't this just be swell for Harry Potter? Watching them all kill each other in Hogwarts, no less.

The one thing I don't know is- Who should win?! Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville (by some enormous fluke), or Draco...? Oh, decisions, decisions.

And what about these Golden Pens?! How do we get 'em going? Do we have to nominate things? I will go and look for things to nominate if that's the idea. What are the categories, though, for that matter?

[Chris 2.1]

I don't think anything's been decided yet.

[PancaKe]

I'm too tired to make any valid decisions at the moment. I should be in bed - its 1.50am. However I'm waiting for the paint on my canvas to dry so I can work on my assessment for art.

Hooray, I'm so smart, starting the night before.

[Darien Shields]

Well what were the areas in the Silver Pencils?

I noticed recently that the entire "Completed Fiction Archive" is gone. Assuming there's no way to get it back from backup or the old server, we should try and set out to retrieve some of the fics that were there. I know Captain Pringle still polks about here sometimes, and I have his AIM screen-name, so I'll try to convince him to post TEL, and maybe when PancaKe's finished her art project and gotten a good night's sleep she can tell us about LVH ^_^; BTW, good luck with the art thing.

What other fics were/should be in the archive, and what were their authors, so that we can try and re-assemble it? Actually, maybe I should make a topic about this...

[The Decapitated Mole]

The silver pencils were more member-oriented awards, and I think it was decided when we did the whole naming thing that the golden pens would be more fic-oriented.

Also, I know that the original misadventures of Hiro were in there, as were several fics by A Grilled Fish. It's a shame that the archive is gone..

o_0
jimm

[mr_pikachu]

If you want to take a look, the categories for the previous Silver Pencils Awards can be found at this link: http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/in...?topic=32087.0. However, Jimm pointed out that those Awards may have been more member-oriented, so it might not be the best indication of potential topics for the Golden Pen Awards.

[dratinihaunter13]

The Archives Category link under the archive forum description on fanfic's main page takes me right to the completed archive. is the link not working for anyone else? Here

[The Decapitated Mole]

Well I'll be a monkey's so-and-so. It's ok, DH, I can see the archive, too. You're not crazy yet. I guess it's just the link from the archive section of the boards that doesn't work..


EDIT: and here, for those who are interested, is the info on the Silver Pencil awards.

Anybody else but me think there should be, like, a generic plaque for each awards ceremony that the winners can take as many of as they win? No? Okay then, I'll just... go over here in this corner.


o_0
jimm

[Zcade0]

I can't wait for the golden pens if we have them this year. I saw them last year on the old forms when I wasn't a member. To get to the archives don't you halve to click on the link below where it says the compleat fanfiction archive?
Go TEL!!!!!! w00t!! Is it possible to recover more of Dark Sages Yu-Gi-Oh fics? There some of my favorites. If I can help at all with the golden pens I'm free.

[Darien Shields]

So the archive exists, but it's just in the wrong place- in Archives, not in Fan Fiction... hmm. Well who do we talk to to fix this?

Plus these look like a good place to start for the GPs:


Fiction Awards

Best Overall Fic
Best Uncompleted
Best New Fic (under five chapters)
Best Cast
Best Plot
Best Writing Style
Most Original Character
Best Plot Twist
Best Chapter
Best Poem/Short Story

Although maybe we want to sub-divide more...?

[The Decapitated Mole]

Well the old Golden Pens topic is floating around in here as well, on page 3 or 4 or someodd, and the awards from back before the ceremonies had names are back there too [I found them in my search for the Silver Pencil topic], maybe we could get ideas from there?

o_0
jimm

[Darien Shields]

I found this with an advanced search, but that's all I got so far.

ZyuRanger! ZyuRanger!
Kyoryu Sentai! ZyuRanger!

[mistysakura]

Here are the old Golden Pens categories:
General Fic Awards
Best Fiction Overall
Best Non-Pokemon
Best Dark
Best Trainer
Best Comedy
Best Romance
Best Action
Most Original
Most Realistic
Best Writing Style
Best Plot
Best New Fic
Most Promising
Fic Moments
Best Cliffhanger
Best Plot Twist
Best Pokemon Battle Scene
Best Mystery
Best Chapter
Characters
Best Male Leading Role
Best Male Supporting Role
Best Female Leading Role
Best Female Supporting Role
Best Non-Human Character
Best Villain
Funniest Character
Best Character Based on a Board Member
Most Original
Best Overall
Best Relationship
Best Original Cast
Member Awards
Most unusual Board member
Best New Writer
Most Dedicated Writer
Best Writer
Most Dedicated Reader
Best Newcomer to the Boards
Most Rounded Member
Miscellaneous
Best New Pokemon
Best Location
Best Setting

Eh, feel free to start a discussion I suppose. I think that at this moment a more general awards ceremony (like the GPs) would be preferable to a more member-based awards (like the SPs); post if you've got any ideas guys.

[The Decapitated Mole]

I'm all for having the SPs be member-oriented and the GPs more fic-oriented, although there should be some general member awards here as there were general fic awards in the SPs. Other than that, I'm fine with those categories.

o_0
jimm

[dratinihaunter13]

well there are 7 member awards already on there. thanks for finding the list ada.
ok, i can start a nominations topic with this list if there are no objections or suggestions, but just in case i'll wait a couple days so people can see this. i think it could do with some cutting actually, there's a lot of awards up there and we don't really have a whole lot of fics this year. but it's fine either way.

[Gavin Luper]

Thanks Ada for the list of old topics ... I have a list that's pretty similar, just has a few different topics on it.

DH - do you think we should have a suggestion topic first? Just for a week or two, if you agree, just so we can make sure that everyone's able to suggest topics, even if they aren't all included. I dunno, seems like a good idea, that way we have all suggestions then they can be compiled into one nominations thingo...

Oh, and for nominations, yeah, we will have to prune quite a few categories - or will we? What fics are eligible in the GPs - because it's been a long time since the last Golden Pens (from memory, something like 18 months?). As such, there'll be a back up of fics that have never been considered for GPs...

I dunno if any of that made sense, as I'm considerably worn out right now. But yeah, maybe us mods should all confer on MSN or something?

*implodes*

Anyhoo, cheers!

[Darien Shields]

Don't mean to interupt talk of GPs with randomness- but I just got my exam results back! I got an A in Maths and English, a B Latin (Grr, thought I was gonna get an A!) and Physics, and a C in Modern Studies.

Squee.

Anyone else get exam results wherever they are?