And I got a little love for the offering

[sovay]

I am seriously considering setting up a Patreon, mostly to see if people will give me money to write about film with the same frequency I have been doing for the last several years, i.e., at least twice a month I talk about something that really interests me (and more often if I have regular access to TCM and/or arthouse theaters). Advice from people with Patreons of their own would be greatly appreciated. I have never run anything of this nature before. I don't even have a PayPal account.

In other news—

For the third year in a row, Strange Horizons has been nominated for a Hugo Award. Editor-in-Chief Niall Harrison talks about the ways in which the honor is complicated this year.

I did not know that anyone had, in poetry, called T.S. Eliot on his anti-Semitism while he was alive, much less to his face at a conference in 1951. That's where Emanuel Litvinoff comes in: "To T. S. Eliot."

I have just discovered there is a Takarazuka musical about the Mayerling affair. Given that a very distant relative of mine figures as the antagonist in at least five retellings of the story I've been able to verify, I'd love to know if anyone has information about this one. The whole phenomenon really entertains me. (Especially the Frank Wildhorn musical.) I am very invested in someday tracking down the TV film where Eduard Graf von Taaffe is played by Raymond Massey.

I have three books and an actor I really want to talk about. It's one of the reasons I need time.

Comments

[genarti]

I think setting up a Patreon for the film write-ups you're doing anyway is a fantastic idea. That said, I have no personal experience with Patreon, only with donating to a couple.

That poem by Litvinoff is fantastic. Wow.

[sovay]

I think setting up a Patreon for the film write-ups you're doing anyway is a fantastic idea.

Thank you! I would like to know more about the practical side, like reasonable prices and time frames, but I think it's either that or put up a donation button for PayPal and I don't have a PayPal account.

That poem by Litvinoff is fantastic. Wow.

I'd never heard of him until I started reading about Elaine Feinstein. I feel I need to read a lot more of his work now.

(That is a nice icon.)

[yhlee]

The practical advice I received was to be sure to include perks at the lower tiers, say $5 and $10, to induce people to bump up from minimum $1 monthly donations. I don't know what this would look like for you--maybe posting snippets from poetry-in-progress for those reward tiers. (You can post locked updates to Patreon, including locking entries to X tiers and above.) In my case, I am lazy and only have a $10 low tier where every month I send a postcard with a doodle and a trinket to the backer, but I am abusing Joe's willingness to snail things for me plus the fact that I have an insane supply of beautiful Korean stamps/bookmarks/etc. from decluttering that I want to get rid of anyway.

Also, have someone design you a really pretty banner! I have a ridiculous kludge of a banner. I bet you could nab beautiful and appropriate art out of public domain or screencaps from movies, though; I couldn't think of any options I was going to have for space opera from public domain. *wry g*

[sovay]

The practical advice I received was to be sure to include perks at the lower tiers, say $5 and $10, to induce people to bump up from minimum $1 monthly donations.

Hm. I don't tend to share works in progress, because the act of sharing tends to kill them stone dead, but maybe I could agree to write small extra things for people in exchange for the raise in price. Assuming it wouldn't cost extra to find them, I would be willing to take requests, although in an ideal situation I continue to watch the weird stuff off TCM and film festivals that I didn't know existed and need to tell the rest of the world about, because that's what really interests me.

Also, have someone design you a really pretty banner!

I bet I could use some of Rob's photographs that did not make the cut as the cover of Ghost Signs. They're very atmospheric. Otherwise, yeah, it should be film-related and easily accessible.

Thank you!

[yhlee]

You know your brain best...my strategy was to look for something low-effort (or stuff I had lying around already) that people might be willing to jump a hoop for. Are you any good at things like limericks? I'm throwing out random suggestions, which you are of course free to ignore, but you know. If not limericks, posts of interesting family recipes? Anecdotes? Rough drafts of old poems that might be interesting to fans of your work? Anyway, best wishes.

[sovay]

my strategy was to look for something low-effort (or stuff I had lying around already) that people might be willing to jump a hoop for.

Low-effort is good! I am not up for extended interaction with patrons. It will burn me out very quickly and it runs heavily against my degree of comfort as an introvert who doesn't let that many people that deeply into their life anyway.

Anyway, best wishes.

Thank you. I really appreciate all of the suggestions. If the rewards don't need to be thematically related to the main output of the Patreon, I'm sure I can find something.

[yhlee]

I'm pretty sure they don't need to be related. Remember, this isn't Kickstarter, where you're packaging a fixed project. You're asking for backing of whatever-it-is-that-you-do. Think of it as "what is easy for me to provide that will entice people into giving me extra money?" I hope someone with more marketing-esque experience can give you better advice. :]

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I would contribute to that Patreon!

And I have just the person--make that people--to answer your Takarazuka question. wakanomori, what say you?

(With some people's LJs, if you mention someone by username, they get a notification, but this isn't true for all LJs--or maybe it doesn't depend on the blog, maybe it depends on the person mentioned, and their settings. In any case, I'll ask him; he loves assignments like this.)

[gwynnega]

I would contribute to your Patreon as well!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Oh my god yes, I would contribute to a Patreon like that. And I would signal-boost the hell out of it, too.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Where do I sign up?

Nine

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Adding my voice to the three-person throng: I will signal-boost the crap out of your Patreon, and (God willing) may also be able to sign on. Do it do it doooo eeeeet. (Please.;))

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear some good news about the Hugos.

[sovay]

I would contribute to that Patreon!

Thank you! It was not something that seemed conceivable in February, but I am giving it serious planning thought now.

[edit] Here!

(With some people's LJs, if you mention someone by username, they get a notification, but this isn't true for all LJs--or maybe it doesn't depend on the blog, maybe it depends on the person mentioned, and their settings. In any case, I'll ask him; he loves assignments like this.)

Awesome. I look forward to his response!

[sovay]

I would contribute to your Patreon as well!

Thank you! Data point.

[edit] Announcement here.

[sovay]

Oh my god yes, I would contribute to a Patreon like that. And I would signal-boost the hell out of it, too.

Thank you! Now I just have to figure out how to put one together.

[edit] Ta-da.

[sovay]

Where do I sign up?

As soon as there is somewhere, I'll point you to it!

[edit] Here.

[sovay]

Adding my voice to the three-person throng: I will signal-boost the crap out of your Patreon, and (God willing) may also be able to sign on. Do it do it doooo eeeeet.

Hee. Thank you. At this point I'm pretty sure I will: I just need an idea of how to make it feasible!

[edit] Done.

[sovay]

I'm glad to hear some good news about the Hugos.

I was glad to see that Strange Horizons was not a Puppy nominee, as neither were several novels, magazines, movies, and other media that I enjoy (see File 770: Entering the Lists, "a scorecard of the effectiveness of Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies slates"). I am still very displeased by the entire thing.

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

I'm still very displeased too.

Vox stalked my friend via my Youtube favorites, posted some videos she made on his blog in an effort to humiliate her, and then justified the whole thing because not only did she dismiss anything he said to her, she actively ingratiated me into her group of friends.

[sovay]

Vox stalked my friend via my Youtube favorites, posted some videos she made on his blog in an effort to humiliate her, and then justified the whole thing because not only did she dismiss anything he said to her, she actively ingratiated me into her group of friends.

That's very unsettling. Is he still stalking her and/or you?

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

I don't think he's still going after her. It didn't hurt her confidence at least; her band won Artist of the Month in Deli Magazine New England.

I do know that EW posted an article about the Sad Puppies, the Sad Puppies authors are pissed because the article said that they're all white men when in fact there's one non-white and a couple of women in less prestigious categories like Fan Writer, Editor, and Short Story, and one of Vox Day's bootlickers is posing as me in order to make me look like a misogynist.

[sovay]

It didn't hurt her confidence at least; her band won Artist of the Month in Deli Magazine New England.

Oh, yeah? Point me toward them.

and one of Vox Day's bootlickers is posing as me in order to make me look like a misogynist.

Okay. That's awful. Is this in comments of EW or generally across the internet? How are you doing?

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

Here's their demo.
http://atlaslab.bandcamp.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB-xNB4uj9c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBdXp-Z32o

Here's some solo stuff by Emma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OBlYrFoVnw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNXltPZpMSo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IoJ05bDy70

Some of them have been following me across the internet. Usually there's someone to catalog and report it to Vox, no matter how innocuous what I said is. I'm doing good, though.

[sovay]

Here's their demo.

Thank you! I am enjoying it greatly. I know I can't be suffering a new music deficit—if nothing else, asakiyume is steadily supplying me with the latest Decemberists—but it feels like it. I am always looking for artists I don't know.

I'm doing good, though.

I'm glad to hear it. Stay all right.

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

I've heard them live a few times. They're from Somerville, actually.

Their EP is coming out in the summer, with proper studio versions of the demo songs and the two songs on Youtube. Not Shadow Song, unfortunately.

I just found out the pizza place that won't serve to same-sex weddings made about a million in donations.
Imagine how many Atlas Lab double albums that could fund.

[sovay]

They're from Somerville, actually.

Nice! Maybe I have a chance of catching one of their shows someday.

I just found out the pizza place that won't serve to same-sex weddings made about a million in donations.

I hadn't heard. I can indeed think of many better causes. Feh.

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

You should. They're really great, and they're really nice people. Emma's going to be in Cyprus for a month, though.

[wakanomori.livejournal.com]

Took me a while to get to this, and some of this probably this won't be news to you, sovay, but: the 1983 Takarazuka performance was based on the telling by Jean Schopfer (writing as Claude Anet), via the Japanese translation Utakata no koi ["a short-lived love"]. Anet's work was just called Mayerling and first appeared in 1930 (Paris : Bernard Grasset).
The Japanese translation was the work of Okada Shinkichi (1903-64), a Tōdai educated movie critic and translator of French literature. His translation appeared first in 1954; it was republished in 1957 and 1969, each time w/ a different publisher.
The Takarazuka script was written by Shibata Yukihiro, a prolific playwright who's worked at Takarazuka since 1958 and is still active, apparently. The piece is considered quite popular, hence the several repeats (in 1993, 1999, 2000, 2006, and 2013, according to the wikipedia piece on it).
Neither PGutenberg nor the Internet Archive have the Anet novel, but there is a link to the 1936 film based on it.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Ooh, the whole movie--cool!

And here's a song from the Takarazuka production. wakanomori, does it remind you of Itsuwa Mayumi's style? I think we have to get to see this!

[wakanomori.livejournal.com]

Nice find -- and the comment is telling:
「ベルサイユ」よりも「うたかたの恋」のはうが宝塚らしくて好き。
Something about the plot, maybe? I really don't know enough about Takarazuka!

[sovay]

Took me a while to get to this, and some of this probably this won't be news to you, sovay, but: the 1983 Takarazuka performance was based on the telling by Jean Schopfer (writing as Claude Anet), via the Japanese translation Utakata no koi ["a short-lived love"].

I knew about the 1936 film, but not most of the other information. Thank you very much! I wonder how closely the two resemble one another.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Reblogged!