I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.

[freckles_and_doubt]

I just found the note I scrawled in my diary to record a billboard headline over the weekend, mostly in the spirit of "WTF??!?" As usual, the Daily Voice is doing its mad poetic stuff:

THE REV REKS BEK ON BURKAS

WTF? I am completely unable to parse that for any value of "sense", and I know it's correct, I checked it on several different posters when I copied it down. Mad props for games with assonance and alliteration, but zero points when they lead to the complete obliteration of actual meaning. Searching on any of those terms or any terms likely to be abbreviated thusly reveals absolutely no news stories to which it could possibly be referring. Is there some Afrikaans key I'm missing? Yours, confused.

Other than linguistic confusion, I got nuttin' today, and shall, as is traditional, fill the gap with linkery. This is Jonathan Lethem being sane, dignified and eloquent on the universality of literary borrowing and the stupidity of draconine copyright laws, which is particularly entertaining given the current fanfic fandom furore (see, I too can alliterate!) over Diana Gabaldon's anti-fic hissy fit.

And this is the membership sign-up form for AussieCon, which is this year's WorldCon and thus the site of the Hugo voting process. If you sign up as an associate member you are entitled to download the entire raft of Hugo nominees - novels, short stories, graphic works et al - in e-form, because you're also entitled to vote in the Hugos from a distance, owing to the marvel of the modern Internet. This costs AU$70, and I just did it, thus bluing my entire month's book-buying budget in one fell swoop. However, since this nets me five novels, five non-fiction books (including Farah Mendlesohn's new one on Joanna Russ, squeee!), about 20-30 short stories, several graphic novels and a whole bunch of other stuff, I am significantly not complaining. Also, I get to vote in the Hugos. This has never felt like a real possibility before: by definition, South African science fiction fans are pretty much marginalised from the con scene. I've usually read about half of the novels and stories, and definitely have an opinion. I suddenly feel relevant and enabled.

Comments

[scrumisscrum.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

'Rek jou bek' is roughly translated from Afrikaans as 'running your mouth off'; so the phrase as a whole is something about a reverend running his mouth off about burqas.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

ah! illumination is vouchsafed. Thank you, I thought there must be something like that going on. It's a lovely play with sound, at any rate.

[nimnod.livejournal.com]

This: http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1044495.html?view=37253135#t37253135

is also a goodish link re the fanfic furore.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I saw it on your journal first, actually, although it's popped up all over my RSS during the course of the day. Honestly: every now and then some stupid author who should be far more plugged into their readership culture, goes and violently self-destructs, and we can all sit back, munch popcorn and enjoy the show. I saw that Bookshelf response - lovely stuff!

[nimnod.livejournal.com]

It's mind-boggling. If nothing else, how do these authors not see the potential for increased revenue in a fanbase so obsessed as to be writing fanfic in the first place?

[wolverine-nun.livejournal.com]

Funny :). When something happens in the world of popular science or science scepticism I get it popping up in my feedreader through multiple channels. But fanfic and copyright? Passes me right by. It sometimes seems like everyone on the net must read the same stuff I do, and then I realise that's not quite the case.

Loved the bookhop post. After about 15000 words I started skimming the Lethem, but much enjoyed all the same.

[(Anonymous)]

Magnificent Lethem essay. Even on a very very cursory, time-strapped skim-read. I particularly like the key at the end.

scroob

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

It's kinda a punch in the eye, isn't it? Love it. Particularly since the essay itself is so coherent and sane. I wish my students plagiarised a fraction as well.