Keystroke

keystroke The Age of Deviants

How Online Art Sharing Websites Have Affected The Way People View Art

Viva la

Readolution

TARDIS Song

Trolled!

All For One

EDITOR’S NOTE

W

hat is it about the Internet that captivates us so completely? Perhaps it is the vast realm of possibilities which spring from shared interests and the anonymity that a computer screen provides. There are constructive works, such as a website increasingly used to find and hire promising young artists or video blogs which can serve any purpose from entertainment to support to a springboard for finding a new family. There are TV shows, comics, movies and more which have an almost religious following; these followers can and have done incredible things for their obsession. There are often-forgotten technologies which silently improve a user’s Internet experience. There are destructive works, such as trolling.

The Internet is a microcosm of life, and when it brings together the right people, it can create something awesome in the literal sense. It allows us to connect in ways we never could before, and acts as both entertainment and utility. But one of the tendencies of magazines about the Internet is to focus on what the “traditional” Internet user wants to see. Because a straight, white, cisgender, neurotypical man totally represents everyone. Totally.

We created this magazine because we want to challenge that. It’s time for a viewpoint on the Internet that doesn’t come from men over thirty.

We hope you enjoy this magazine!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

8|

THE AGE OF THE DEVIANTS

How online art sharing websites have affected the way people view art

14|

THE TARDIS CALLS

Why people love The Doctor

20|

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE TROLL

Educate thyself on trolling--we wish that they would

26|

ALL TOGETHER NOW

You don’t have to be alone

31|

READER REVOLUTION

Viva la revolution--via Google Reader

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Alternate Story Title PAGE 12

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Alternate Story Title PAGE 24

Born in Ft. Worth, Texas and raised in Austin, Texas, Anna Fredlund is a student of the Liberal Arts and Science Academy who spends way too much time on the computer. She has been active in various fandoms since she was 12, and acts as one of the more “enthusiastic” fans (read: fangirl) in her group. She enjoys drawing, reading, sleeping, and people being nice. Why can’t more people be nice?

Oncoming Shipper

An avid artist and cellist, Emelia Patterson is a 14-year old girl that likes pondering the meaning of the universe. She enjoys music, drawing, writing, anime and studying various languages. Mostly, she studies German and and Japanese, but she would like to learn many more. She likes writing about her dreams and often has her head in the clouds. She likes loud music, and her favorite color is orange, though yellow and purple are close behind. She always skips the second to last stair on a staircase, and she often runs into things. She likes cute stuff and poofy scarves.

Homesteak, Medium Rare

Sassy Lass

Meet the Staff

Emma Rose Ackerman is a young woman who was born on February 18th, 1998 in a small town outside San Antonio, Texas. She grew up a local Austinite with a green freak for a mother and a chef for a father.

She has been taking piano lessons since kindergarten, and has been fencing for the last three years. She volunteers out at HELP (Horse Empowered Learning Programs) Horse Facilitated Therapy for the mentally and physically disabled on Saturdays. She is a sustainable population enthusiast and envisions the Oval Office in her future. She’ll kill you if you touch her Dr. Pepper.

Pocket-sized Spaz

Indecisive Nutcase

An aspiring writer, Josie Walker is an excellent candidate for the (unofficial) group of writers based in New York (she may not live there, but she was certainly born there). She enjoys speculative fiction (along with everyone else in her group), grammar (the quality of this magazine has undoubtedly been improved by her position as head editor), and occasionally (surprisingly) has little to say. She acts as one of the more grounded fans in her group.

T’Keyah Nelson is a girl who was born on December 14, 1997 in the city of San Antonio. She enjoys many things including writing, drawing, painting, cosplaying, and studying Japanese, although, she doesn’t think she’s too good at them. She tries keep her head held high with her music--kpop, mostly, and some indie pop, anti-folk, and posthardcore music. She likes stupid jokes and somewhat bad puns.

When she grows up, she wants to be an author and visit either Korea or Japan.

FANDOM

The Cycle of a

FANGIRL Hello people with a lack of an obsessive personality. Clearly, you’ve picked up this magazine for a reason and for one reason only--you want information.

More specifically, you want information on how to properly deal (read:survive an encounter) with your fangirl (or fanboy) of a friend. Luckily, you’ve picked up a magazine designed by five bona fide fangirls, one of whom has thoughtfully put together this guide for interacting with your fangirl during a most treacherous time--a new season of their favorite show.

Stay away. The fangirl has realized that the show won’t be coming back for at least a year, or worst of all-never. Avoid engaging the fangirl. They will eventually rejoin the world of the living. For now, let them mourn.

Finale The fangirl can do nothing but stare at the screen.

Take cover for the next bit.

TAKE COVER. TRUST ME. JUST TAKE COVER.

Hiatus The show is on hiatus. The last episode was a cliffhanger.

The fangirl is dead, and if you don’t tread cautiously, so are you.

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FANDOM

PREMIERE Also known as the one thahat no one will miss.

The fangirl is happiest at this time, and will respond to most interactions AFTER the episode in a positive, albeit strange, manner.

Season Start comedown For you, this is a wonderful time to interact with the fangirl. For them, the new season of the show is starting to disappoint.

They may gladly welcome human interaction.

Twist

Guess what? The fangirl has just been on the recieving end of one hell of a twist. They may be brain dead until the next episode. Be as open-minded as possible when they come at you screaming.

FILLER This is an iffy time for both you and your fangirl. They have sat through at least one filler (unimportant to the plot) and unless they got some character development or some shipping hints, they won’t be happy.

Approach with caution-and food.

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The Age of the Deviant

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HOW ONLINE ART SHARING WEBSITES HAVE AFFECTED THE WAY PEOPLE VIEW ART | BY EMELIA PATTERSON

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A

ria scribbles another figure in her sketchbook. Finally it was complete, but who could she share it with? She doesn’t want the stress of showing it to friends, and no one in her family would appreciate her fast-growing art skills as much as other artists. Aria drops down at her desk and turns on her computer, wondering if there is anything online that could possibly help her.

Most artists want their work to be seen by many, but without the hassle of driving and setting up at conventions and art shows, so they turn to online art sharing websites to exhibit their artwork. These websites allow artists to gain feedback from people all over the world without the aforementioned problems. One of the most popular art sharing websites is deviantART, or dA, which says that they have “235 million pieces of art from over 23 million registered artists and art appreciators” on their main page.

On dA, artists can easily upload their art and get constructive feedback from viewers. The website has an option where the viewers can leave critiques for the artists, or deviants, as they are called on dA. Viewers can nominate and give artists an award called Daily Deviation, which displays the artwork at the bottom of dA’s front page. (moved to paragraph 7) Aria, or Chocolate-Meow, as she is called on dA, is a deviant who has been with deviantART for 2 years, and she says that her favorite thing about dA is “how dA is a center for creative geniuses, whether it be in forms of keystroke

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photography, sculptures, drawings, or anything between and beyond.”

She feels like dA is like a free online museum that allows people to see talents from around the world.

“I’m easily inspired to do things when I see other people doing them.”

Chocolate-Meow said “After viewing so many pictures of a certain genre of things and then thinking long and hard about it, there comes a point where you get off the computer and grab a piece of paper to start drawing. dA does that to me daily.” (shortened quote) Chocolate-Meow said that she likes dA the most because it allows her to see artwork from many different genres.

She thinks that dA could also be a good website for getting young artists to start their drawing careers.

If you find an artist on dA that inspires or impresses you, and you want to be notified whenever they post a new piece of artwork, then you can watch them. When you watch an artist, everything that they post will show up in your inbox, including journals that they write.

Deviant doyouneedtokno, who does mainly digital art, but some traditional, says that they prefer dA because “It’s really inspiring. Also, I really like how the site isn’t composed of a single type of art, like some, less well known,

art sites. You can find 3-D mediums, photography, and prose, as well. The community is also very engaging.”

Catphantom01, who has been a deviant for 3 years, says that she enjoys dA because people can submit their art to groups and reach a wider audience.

“I think it’s just generally a good place to display your work and get feedback from other amateur artists.” Another deviant, named storm911, says that she likes dA because “it’s easy to submit art, and I like the possibility that [my art] might one day be showcased on the [Daily Deviant] page.”

Chocolate-Meow says, “dA has a really easy uploading format and its reliable a lot of the time. Plus, the community is pretty active and people are constantly browsing for new things to look at, so it gives me hope that someone will randomly come across my art... eventually.”

The way artists submit art to DeviantART has proved simple for many deviants. Artists can simply upload a file and title it, and dA will do the rest. (deleted opinion) It is also possible to post stories, or literature on dA. Instead of uploading a piece of artwork, you can upload a written document. Many people on deviantART post stories instead of visual art.

DeviantART’s navigation system an angel and a devil

photo credit: art by emelia patterson

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allows viewers and artists can find the area of art that they are interested in. These categories range all the way from pixel art to sculptures, and from animation to cosplay. My deviantART serves as a very diverse and well-rounded place for artists to share their talents. k

photo credit art by emelia patterson yayoi takatsuki from the anime the Idolm@ster

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FANDOMS

Cosplay JUST A FEW TIPS FOR YOU

C

osplay is short for costume role-play. When one “cosplays”, they dress up as a fictional character or as a concept—such as a character from a show or the concept of a school girl—and a lot of the time they’ll act as if they were the character. Most people cosplay and “cons” or conventions and some may not, but cosplayers don’t cosplay everyday. Everyone starts somewhere, though!

Age, race, body and gender doesn’t matter at all when you cosplay! The purpose is to pretty much have fun and to show people your creativity skills!

1. The first thing you need to do when cosplaying is picking a cosplay! Some things to consider when choosing your cosplay(s): • Your favorite fandoms • Your favorite characters • Their personality • How much you know about that character/concept 2. Another thing to remember is the cost of the cosplay. Most people who cosplay are pretty young and therefore don’t have an income to buy stuff. So instead of buying your entire cosplay (which is totaly acceptable) you can make them.

For example: • clothing • accessories • props • fake teeth or fangs 3. Cosplay takes time, so if you want to cosplay for a convention (also reffered to as a “con”), you should plan in advance. Write a timeline in which you show where you should be by a certain date.

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4. Do make-up tests! If you buy a brand of make-up you’ve never used before for a cosplay, then you should: • Practice using it • Apply it to a sensitive area first, like your wrist, to make sure the make-up doesn’t irritate your skin and if it does, then you have a rash on your arm instead of your face.

5. Everyone starts somewhere so don’t feel discouraged if your cosplay isn’t a nice as the next person.

6. If you’re a Homestuck and you’re cosplaying a troll, make sure you seal your body paint. You could easily get kicked out of the con for getting grey paint every where.

7. If you’re doing a photoshoot, angles, lighting and editing are important. Take all of these into consideration and if you post it online, credit the photographer and all of those included in the photoshoot.

8. Contacts are alwasy great for cosplay, however make sure you check with your eye doctor before you buy some online. These are your eyes, which can be damaged for life if you buy or mess up these contacts. Cosplay is fun but let’s try not to go blind from it.

9. Cosplaying in a group can be fun!

The more the merrier!

10. Crossplay is accepted anywhere and everywhere! There are so many ways you can manipulate the view of your body to look like another gender!

11. Your skin is to dark to cosplay this character? No it’s not. Everyone can cosplay anyone, end of story.

12. If you’re under the age of 18 and need help with cosplay, ease your parents into the idea of cosplay and maybe they’ll help you out a lot! Parents can be your best friend!

13. If you need any tips, cosplay.com is a great resource to go to!

14. Have fun with your cosplay! It’s supposed to be a fun experience!

FANDOMS

Okay: •

• •

•

•

Original characters, Alternate Universe characters, and fan characters are completely okay!

Headcannons for certain characters are okay, too!

It’s okay to not wear a wig, though it’s highly recommeded, same with makeup! But, both make you look a bit more professional and like the character.

It’s okay not to care about your cosplay on Halloween, most cosplayers don’t!

To use other people’s tutorials and buy costumes, that’s why they’re there!

Not Okay: •

•

When someone works hard on their cosplay, bashing it and calling it crap is not okay.

Constructive critism, though is totally acceptable.

Buying things from Milanoo is considered a big no-no.

Their reviews are pretty bad.

According to those who have bought from Milanoo, their product isn’t nearly the same as what they show on the website and it’s usually really bad quality. Almost anything is better than Milanoo products.

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photo credit: photo credit keystroke

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the TARDIS calls WHY PEOPLE LOVE THE DOCTOR | EMMA ROSE ACKERMAN

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H

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e used to wear celery in his buttonhole.

He used to carry a banana everywhere.

He thinks bowties are cool, he likes wearing fezzes (even though his wife and mother-in-law won’t let him). He has a sonic screwdriver, his weapon of choice; it can cause no harm and can fix or unlock anything, save deadbolts.

He has had 11 different faces. He travels through time and space. He’s a madman with a box and, to the ire of thousands of fans, he is a fictional character from a children’s TV show.

He is a Time Lord, and his name is The Doctor.

“Doctor Who is like Star Trek,... It’s one of those things that, once it gets under your skin, it sticks with you,” Doctor Who fan Craig Fredlund said.

Thousands of people, everywhere, of every age and gender, every ethnicity, gather around their TV’s on certain Saturday nights to watch The Doctor’s latest adventure unfold in an hour. The show, Doctor Who, has run off and on since 1963, drawing people from every generation to it for different reasons.

Some watch Doctor Who because it brings back memories of their childhood, others are still in their childhood and watch the show for its quirks and humor. Since the new show started in 2005, Doctor Who’s popularity has exploded across the Internet, creating a massive, living, breathing creature out of its fandom. So whatever their reason, those who watch Doctor Who are enchanted, by its wit, its unique characters, its life lessons or the world and universe it creates. But plenty of shows are funny, plenty have good characters and fantastic worlds, so why is this show so widely loved?

Within the walls of The Doctor’s universe lies a world parallel to our own, where aliens visit the earth, among them The Doctor. The Doctor is the human race’s self-appointed guardian, and sometimes he is there just in time to save everyone, but sometimes, all he can do is watch,due to fixed points in time, where the past and the future cannot be rewritten. The

photo credit: Emma Rose Ackerman

caption caption: caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption

Doctor travels with companions, people who keep him company and try to stop him from losing himself to war and the fight against all those who would destroy other creatures and other worlds for their own benefit.

Once, The Doctor asked Amy “All of time and space; everywhere and

changes their world.

The Doctor tends to choose his companions on a whim, but, he seems to ask great things of them. In one episode, he says to a man named Jeff, “the future revolves around you, here, now, so do good!” The Doctor and his companions are meant as role models to others, they are meant to teach their child viewers the importance of qualities such as “facing up to your fears, and non-prejudice” says Graham, “these are shown mostly through the growth of the companions over their time with The Doctor.”

Doctor Who shows how anyone can be special and important. Donna Noble, one of The Doctor’s companions who was “the most human seeming of the companions, in both appearance and attitude,” said Graham. She wasn’t flashy or energetic, “she was slightly older and less attractive... as well as just a lot more down to earth,” said Graham. But Donna was still capable of greatness.

When The Doctor returned her, without her memories, to her family he said, “there are worlds out there, safe in the sky because of her... there are people...

It’s really all about choices.

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anywhere; every star that ever was.

Where do you want to start?” Doctor Who opens up the world and the universe, even though we can’t travel like The Doctor, it leaves one feeling “dreamy and excited and hopeful,” said part-time non-avid Doctor Who fan Fiona Graham. Doctor Who makes you think that there are people to meet, people to have adventures with. As The Doctor once said, “In 900 years of time and space I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important”, a line that makes others believe that they all have potential, that anyone they meet could be the person who changes them, who

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photo credit: Emma Rose Ackerman

Family Time: The Fredlund family around their TV, preparing to watch Doctor Who.

FanWare: Doctor Who fan Fiona Graham shows off her Doctor Who meets Back to the Future T-shirt.

singing songs of Donna Noble... They will never forget her, while she can no longer remember... But for one moment... she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe.”

Doctor Who is full of choices. More often than not, The Doctor has to choose what to do, who to save, and sometimes he loses people. “It makes you stop and think,” Fredlund says. “It’s really all about choices. The choices that you make, the change, the outcome.” The most elegant, educating element of Doctor Who is how The Doctor, a centuries old alien, learns and grows “in a more subtle, but also more intense way with the changes in the Doctor,” says Graham.

The call that draws one to The Doctor is a song of beauty.

Of choices and changes, of time and progression. It speaks of the good that can be found in all people, of the endless possibilities available to those who just look. Now go, the TARDIS is calling you out to adventure.

Doctor Who: This is the show’s current official logo.

photo credit: photo credit

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Food for Thought We’ve all seen depictions of some form of neurological difference--autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, you name it. But how well do these characters represent the real people who live with the conditions every day of their lives?

Homeland

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Glee

The Big Bang Theory

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Why does this matter?

Community

Mad Men

According to Lichtenstein Creative Media, the company that was hired by the City of New York to research attitudes towards mental illness, people pick up their perceptions of the mentally ill from the movies and TV they watch. Educated consumers have more respect for the peaceful people they know than the sensationalized characters they do not.

Adult Americans with a diagnosed medical illness:

1 in 5

Young adults with mental illness proportionate to senior citizens with mental illness:

2 to 1

Gender ratio among adult Americans with mental illness:

23% of women and 16.8% of men

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The Good The Bad The Troll FANDOM

AN EXPLANATION OF THE DREAD INTERNETCENTRIC | ANNA FREDLUND

FANDOM

typical night for an Avid Internet User might go like this: get home. Sit at desk/lie on bed/get comfy wherever.

Grab laptop or other computer device.

Log on to most frequently used site.

They may scroll for a while, occasionally clicking on various links. This continues until they see it.

Out of the corner of their eye.

Perhaps with horrid grammar or, god forbid, an opinion.

A troll. AKA, a person on the Internet who strives to make someone’s life miserable.

Perhaps the original user’s blood boils. “This cannot go on!” they think, and move their cursor over the username.

This is where the timeline splits.

In one, they click the username. They go to their inbox, and begin composing an epic tale of how wrong the troll is and why they should just get off the Internet already. A few hours later, the troll responds, maybe being so inane that they don’t even realize that they are being that inane. This then sparks a month long match of Internet tennis, complete with overused memes tossed back and forth.

This is a timeline in which the Avid Internet User wastes a month of their life.

In the other, they pause, remembering a phrase that has given many a tumblr blogger or redditer strength in times of emotional distress and wounded prideDon’t. Feed. The trolls.

In this timeline, the Avid Internet User follows this advice and keystroke

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continues scrolling. This prevents the aforementioned Internet tennis match, allowing the Avid Internet User to use that month of their life to do something productive.

Trolling and its other variants (on Tumblr) can appear as anonymous hate (sending messages to a user and leaving their own username out of it), arguments on posts, particularly when a question with an “obvious” answer is asked. The OP (original poster) is then left to the mercy of the understanding (those who genuinely wish to help the person asking the question) and those who are “dissatisfied with their lives” and know that “they won’t really get in trouble for it” as Riley Ross, Avid Internet User and tumblerer, put it.

“Some people are nice and respond, and others are like “haha, you’re stupid, so I’m gonna troll you about this” and then they just kinda build from there.”

Ross said.

As mentioned before, people often troll because they know/believe that they’re won’t get in trouble or that there won’t be any consequences for their actions. In most cases, this is true.

In others, this only somewhat applies.

In a few rare cases, this is completely wrong. What determines this? The reaction of the one who is trolled to the actions of the troll.

“They [the victim] can either ignore it [the trolling] or make it into a joke... or they can get very sad and depressed and suicidal.” Ross said.

When that happens, there will almost definitely be an actual consequence.

But who would troll? Who could even do that to another person?

“Different types of people...annoying twelve-year-olds.” Said Ross.

Either individuals or a group of individuals decide to begin some sort of trolling effort. This mass trolling effort usually takes the form of a ship war. Which fandom has the best examples of ships wars?

Homestuck. The fandom with over 1 million possible ships, with a comparatively tiny percentage reigning over the rest with a high popularity rate. Most of these ships have mild fanbases, content with their non-canon status. Others have energetic fanbases, faster to defend or flame, but still approachable. Then there’s the extreme fanbases. Do not insult their ship. If you do, it’s your own fault when they kill you.

“There’s a lot of like really really big shipping wars that go on all the time and especially whenever a pair becomes actual canon,” Homestuck fan Sky Blaw said. “And that can lead to

Below: Pippin Graham models another common reaction to trolls

photo credit: fiona graham

FANDOM

some pretty bitter feelings.”

Trolling can also appear (also on tumblr) as tagged hate.

An example of this is if person A dislikes cake, they may write a post detailing how pie is better than cake. They may then tag it as “cake”, allowing it to be shown in the “cake” tag.

Person B then sees this post. Person B, an avid lover of cake and whose life may have been saved by their discovery of cake, is angry at person A. Cue Internet tennis match.

The Internet is considered to be the perfect grounds for trolling, allowing for extreme anonymity, this going hand in hand with drastic changes in behavior. These changes in behavior can range from a very quiet real-life personality, to being boisterous and highly-opinionated on the Internet.

This allows for trolling to ensue with few consequences to the troll. If they are careful and cover their tracks, it can be very difficult to find their actual identity.

The Internet is a microcosm of the world, with looser social expectations and consequences for breaking them. While this may be a signal to some to disregard these expectations, it can be argued that these expectations should be taken more seriously on the Internet than in real life, the permanence of it all coming back to tear one a new one all too often.

photo credit: fiona graham Above: Pippin Graham models some of the standard reactions to trolls

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FANDOMS

SHERLOCK keystroke

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FANDOMS

We interviewed four hardcore Sherlock fans.

q:

who introduced you to sherlock?

A:

“I kept seeing Sherlock everywhere on Tumblr, so one day I decided to watch it. It took me a couple of episodes to get into it, but by the end of season one I was obsessed. Literally, the first time I watched “Scandal in Belgravia” I restarted it and watched it again,” Elizah Flores said.

q:

What do you like about Sherlock?

A:

Sherlock is a TV series based off of the original Sherlock Holmes novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The show is directed by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Sherlock Holmes is played by Benedict Cumberbatch and John Watson is played

by Martin Freeman. The show is a remake of the original Sherlock Holmes series but it is put into a more modern world. The story takes place at 221B Baker Street, the flat where Sherlock and John work together to solve mysteries. Greg Lestrade, a policeman, calls for Sherlock when he needs help solving a case. The show has many references to the original books, and the actors make it a very loveable show

”Sherlock is the socially unaccepted genius and John is the affected soldier. Their dialogues are always quick and sharp and everything they say has a certain context in the general scheme. At the beginning of the show their relationship was odd, although worked perfectly. As the show went on, their relationship became stronger and as a result, the strength of the show grew as well. Everything became heightened, Sherlock was changing from the genius who never had any true friends to somone who couldn’t imagine his best friend being in danger,” Anna Savelyeva said.

q:

If you have read the books, how do the two series compare?

A:

“The obvious is the time setting, late nineteenth century versus modern day England with modern day perks of cars and Internet. Also, as any modern day series remake, the TV show takes elements from the books and twists them to be much more exciting or convoluted than the original books.The characters are much older, both around their 40s to 50s I think. I think that the original was a great series of literature but the BBC show has its own identity. I can’t really say I like one more than the other, but modern aspects and life were incorporated extremely well and the story came out amazing as a result. I think the best way to describe it is evolution, the BBC Sherlock version is the new amazing literature of Sherlock in TV form,” Anna Savelyeva said.

q:

How do you feel about Sherlock season 3 being pushed

back into 2013?

A:

“I think that BBC is kind of screwing itself over. Sherlock has a large fan base, and many people have been waiting for this for a very long time, and it seems like they aren’t very appreciative of how many people genuinely enjoy watching the show and how much of a pain it is to never know what’s going on with it,” Ella Pettichord said.

“I am upset about the filming of Season 3 being pushed back but I realize that it is because of the filming of The Hobbit along with Benedict’s and Martin’s other jobs. The fact that the last season was left at such a cliffhanger only makes it more disappointing because I fear I may forget details,” Rachael Ellisor. keystroke

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FEATURE STORIES

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All Together Now

FEATURE STORIES

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ALONE| BY T’KEYAH NELSON

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FEATURE STORIES

R

ane has had another long day at school: so much school work during the day, too much homework to do at night, and of course, the daily dose of drama.

As she throws her heavy book bag on the ground, she tries to think of something to help her relax. She sits down at her laptop and waits for it to turn on, the sound of the machine working humming in her ears. She thinks to herself, “What do I want to watch? Do I want to watch something funny? Do I want to listen to music from anywhere in the world? Maybe I could find a movie, or watch something informational.” She finally comes to a decision and the computer has finished starting up. She opens up an Internet browser and types in the familiar URL. YouTube.com.

YouTube is visited every day by 3 billion people and is available in 54 languages. It’s partnered with Google and more than 30,000 people from 27 different countries, giving people a chance to make money by making videos. Among these partners are “DeeFizzy” (Damon Fizzy),“TouchtheSkyFilms” (Christian Novelli). Both are vloggers and make an occasional video based on These two make money from being on YouTube and selling merchandise, but that’s not what keeps them motivated to make another ridiculous video. It’s their thousands and thousands of fans that shower them with love and ask them to help them everyday that keeps them moving; it’s their mutual love for their fans that drives them forward and keeps them from working at a boring keystroke

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everyday job; it’s their fans that’s helped them do bigger and better things and help them chase their dreams. They get the chance to change people’s lives. [deleted something]

Every day they get thousands of fans sending them mail and online messages, asking for help or telling their personal stories, thanking for YouTubers for “saving their lives”.

One Fizzy fan, LifeStartsNow112Fizzy said, “He makes me notice things I haven’t noticed before and he helped me be okay with my awkwardness.”

This love goes both ways though. A fan said to Novelli, “If I killed myself, would you really care and why? I’m just a stranger to you; another depressed fangirl,” to which he responded, “Of course I would, but you shouldn’t put your life in the hands of others? There are people that care about you whether you know it or not, however you’ve gotta live for you!

You’ve got a purpose and life isn’t worth throwing away, even if it seems dark sometimes. Things can literally change any second!” Novelli says things like this daily, putting all of his heart into these replies, Fizzy too. [deleted something] The point is, YouTube fangirl love goes because when they first started out, these guys didn’t expect to have so

many viewers, and now that they have them, they feel like they’d be nothing without them. Fan and YouTubers are each other’s support.

[deleted something]Normally, YouTube fans don’t interact with each other on a regular basis, but Fizzy changed that when he labeled his fans as “the Fizzy Family”. He constructed a website as well: FizzyFamily.com.

The Fizzy Family is a community of people who not only support Fizzy, but support each other as well. He said “I wanted it to be a place where you could come with your problems, be able to get it off your mind and hopefully get help,” and that’s what many people do. There are several sections you can look under: FIZZY FAMILY, PERSONAL, DISCUSSION, and DEEFIZZY.

Under the first section, labeled “FIZZY FAMILY”, you can introduce yourself, register and learn about updates.

In the second sections, PERSONAL, there are many subsections: “What’s happening/Life struggles”, “Relationships”, “Speak Your Mind”, “Advice”, and “Health”. Most of the activity on the site is under “What’s happening/ Life struggles”. People go here to talk about their problems and help others with theirs.

FizzyFamily.com: A screencap of Damon’s website

photo credit: photo cedit

FEATURE STORIES

The “DISCUSSION” section is just what it sounds like: a discussion. The discussions can be about anything from music to politics to “Why is the sky blue?” One user, zamilee, said that her favorite section on fizzyfamily.com is a subsection of “DISCUSSION” called “Randomskies”. She said, “You can just post anything you want and have people’s Tumblr url!”

Last but not least, the “DEEFIZZY” section is where you can contact, suggest things, and talk about the creator himself.

Fizzy has made this site a place where everyone strives to be hate free. His fans are supportive of each other and have a great outlook for other people, just not themselves all the time. Everyone here is accepted and welcome, no matter their race, gender, age, weight, religion, or nationality.

The Internet is a vast land of networking, breaking all the rules of real life. There are mean people, there are nice people, and most of all, there is a family, waiting there. There are people who are ready to help you. There are people who are there for you. “They’ve changed my attitude, made me have a better look out on life. They’ve made me now want to strive to be a better person.” Tumblr user takeonelast-breath said. The Internet can have a huge impact on anyone. k

photo credit: photo credit Tumblr: Screen caps of both Damon and Christian’s tumblr, showing a bit of insight on their interests, beliefs and philosophies.

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Reader Revolution SECTION HEADER

JOIN THE RESISTANCE | JOSIE WALKER

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ndy Liu opens a browser on his computer and enters the address of a website that shows him every article he has yet to read from the BBC, CNN and any other source he could care to name in a simple, tidy format. This website isn’t an experiment or something he coded himself. The website is called Google Reader, and more and more people are starting to discover it for themselves.

When the Internet has so many websites to offer, how can anyone keep track of all the things they care about while retaining their sanity? One possibility is to use an aggregator such as Google Reader, which puts anything someone might care about at their fingertips with a few keystrokes.

So what is Google Reader? “Google Reader is a very simple and efficient way to keep up with your favorite websites or articles,” Reader user Andy Liu says.

Google Reader is a website known as a content aggregator, which gathers information from websites of the user’s choosing through RSS (Rich Site Summary) feeds and notifies the user of updates to that information, such as new blog posts or webcomic pages. “It puts all of the new

SECTION HEADER

information I’m interested in into one place,” Reader user Hoyt Taylor says. “It gives me quick and easy access to all of the news feeds that I’m interested in as well as Facebook and Twitter updates.”

There are many RSS readers out there, so why is Google Reader so popular? “It is very simple and allows the reader to access a lot of information,” Liu says. Google Reader’s layout has nothing which does not need to be on the site. Subscriptions are identifiable from a glance and the navigation is, at most, one layer deep. Google Reader is very easy to get the hang of, because the layout is

consistent. “I really enjoy the interface, actually,” Reader user Brandi Harrison says. “It shows me very easily what I’ve read, what I haven’t read and it’s all in the order that it was published. Sites like Pinterest and Facebook can be a

little annoying because everything is very non-linear and so I don’t know if I’ve missed something or if something is really old and unimportant.”

Some other readers don’t have the combination of aesthetics and technical features that Google Reader has. “I have not found any other web based service that does what Google Reader does,” Reader user Ehsan Asdar says.

Some other content aggregators are limited to only news sites (such as the Huffington Post) or have a layout which, while minimalist, has not been updated in years.

If you have set up a Google Reader account, what feeds should you subscribe to? “My favorite feeds are the New York Times and some comedians I follow on Twitter,” Taylor says. Brevity may fit some users’ Readers, but other users take a more occupational approach to their subscriptions.

“My two favorite feeds right now are ‘Design is Mine: Isn’t It Lovely’ and ‘I love Typography,’” Harrison says.

Other programs may come and go, but the Reader users say they’re here to stay. “I’ll be with Reader until something major rocks my socks off, but I don’t see it happening,” Harrison says. “Reader’s pretty much got it goin’ on.” k

caption caption: caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption

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UNDERSTANDING LEXICONS

Abbr. of the Internet Every social website has its own set of abbreviations that are used regularly by its members, plus a set used everywhere.

Here is a field guide to the various abbreviations of the Internet.

Informative: TIL; Today I Learned (reddit) OP; Original Poster (reddit + tumblr) NSFW; Not Safe For Work, SFW; Safe For Work (reddit + tumblr) OC; Original Content (reddit) OTP; One True Pairing Variations:

NoTP; opposite of OTP

OT3; One True Threesome

BroTP; One True Friendship

Expressive: My Ovaries Exploded; I Find This Person Very Attractive (tumblr) OTL; [bowing] (tumblr) JFC; Jesus F***ing Christ (tumblr) ELI5; Explain Like I’m 5 (reddit) Feels; Feelings (tumblr)

Annoying: ALL CAPITOL LETTERS ALL THE TIME;

attempt at emphasis (tumblr) oiaebrahdcvhajebn (Keymash); Bad

expression, you were taught a lan

guage for a reason (tumblr)

Adorbs; Adorable (tumblr) RanDOM CaPITol LeTTERs; emphasis (tumblr) Ridic; Ridiculous (tumblr)

Cray; Crazy spelled wrong (tumblr)

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