mass-multi-media-remix thing

I talked briefly about a group multi-media remix thing (LJ entry, DW entry) and there seemed to be some interest in the idea (even if only in the theoretical), so I thought I'd explore it a bit further.

team remix vs. single player
If we've got say, five works in five fandoms, with ten participants remixing each work (for a total of fifty remixes, some fic, some vids, some art, some mixes), should those ten participants be able to share ideas, or should they be working on their own? The advantage of working as a team is cross pollination. The disadvantage is possible homogeneity and a decline in competitive spirit.

picking the remixees
There are a couple of things to consider here.

1) Should the remixees be the remixers? That is, should the works being remixed be drawn from the pool of works produced by the participating remixers, or should they be drawn from non-remixers who volunteer their works for the challenge?

2) Should the works being remixed be voted on by the participants, or imposed by those running the challenge? (ie. Me and whoever else comes on board, in the event of this becoming actual instead of a fun idea to think about).

valid remix
I propose the following definition of remix for the challenge: an alternative version, or reimagining of the original work. Good? Bad? We need a definition that allows for cross-media remix, because we might start with a piece of fanart, and get three fics, two fanmixes, three icon sets, a fancomic and another piece of fanart. I'm also in favour of allowing crossover-remixes, both between canons and fanworks.

where to host?
I would say AO3 but it's still got some formatting limitations with regards to multi-media stuff, and a cross-platform challenge might be more fun anyway. So maybe I'd run the organizational stuff out of my journal or a comm, and participants could post their stuff wherever (AO3, Tumblr, Deviant Art, etc) and just provide me with links.

the who, what, whens
Just how many people would be interested in participating in this challenge? What fandoms would you like to see included? When would you like the challenge to run?


And yes, please do spread word of this. I'd be interested in what people outside my dwircle/flist think.

wonder woman movie

If I was writing a Wonder Woman movie I'd borrow from Perez, Rucka and Simone, and start the film with a lengthy Star Trek-like prologue/action sequence that introduces the audience to the Amazon's mission and lifestyle, and Diana's place in that world.

So we'd open on an ancient Greek battlefield, historically accurate save for the fantastical elements (giant serpents, a Pegasus or two), with the Amazons battling an army whose champion is Hercules. Close on Hippolyta and her closest warriors, all of whom are suitably impressive. We get some sense of the history between Hercules and Hippolyta. Later we see the founding of Paradise Island, the Queen's guard and the birth of Diana. All of this before the credits. This way we emphasize the importance of Diana's culture and of her sisters.

Then I'd go the traditional origin story route: Steve Trevor's crash, the contest, Diana's trip to Man's world, her battle with Ares. Incorporating elements of Rucka's pantheon, rather than just going the Perez route. I'm torn on whether or not to include the Kapatelis family. I might close with Diana being appointed Paradise Island's Ambassador to the UN, to set up for Ferdinand et al.

So not too different from the recent cartoon, but subtracting all of its Steve Trevor Is A Dick, Battle of the Sexes shenanigans, and incorporating some of Rucka's and Simone's additions to Diana canon. I'd like Steve to be an ambiguous love interest - hinted at but nothing terribly explicit. Instead I'd emphasize Diana's friendships with Steve, Etta, and Vanessa, as the means to her learning about Man's World and appreciating different parts of it.

What would your Wonder Woman movie look like?

LOLETA: This just went up!

io9 -- Why is Captain America ruling our screens and not Wonder Woman?

On the face of it, both heroes are about equally dated. They both seem like examples of the kind of big, brassy jingoism that made sense in World War II, and doesn't really "click" now. And they're both very much "gee golly"-style Golden Age heroes, who are best suited to fight villains whose heads are red or giant, or both. Unlike Superman, who's been updated a lot, and Batman, whose roots are more noir/pulp, Cap and Wonder Woman are indelibly products of the Big One.

But Captain America already has a huge new movie, which flaunts the World War II setting in a kind of Private Ryan-style war movie with supervillains. And meanwhile, David E. Kelley shopped around a Wonder Woman TV pilot to every network, with no takers. (Although Kelley insists the show isn't dead, and he's going to try again.) And Entertainment Weekly had a huge feature a couple months ago, in which luminaries including would-be Wonder Woman director Joss Whedon talked about the difficulties bringing the princess to the screen — with Whedon saying that we need more wonder women, but not necessarily more Wonder Woman.

Why is Captain America ruling our screens and not Wonder Woman?Image via JD Hancock on Flickr.

So why is one World War II hero bigger than ever, while the other is languishing in biker-chick-redesign land in the comics? It's not just because Steve Rogers is a dude. It has to do with how easy they each are to bring out of the era that spawned them.

Read more.