spiderbraids | Recent Entries

Once upon a time, I blogged about the gradual decline in Photobucket's services, starting from when you could no longer hotlink pictures for free, ending with not even being able to have a fully-functional account for free... In the last post, I noted a TechDirt post by Mike Masnick, about how to avoid encr@ppificiation, with one of the rules reading:

"If you’re charging for something that was once free, you’re taking away value from your community. You’re changing the nature of the bargain, and ripping away the trust that your community put in you. Instead, always look for something new that is worth paying for above and beyond what you already offered. Make it so that it’s worthwhile for people to pay, rather than acting like they need to pay you for the things they got for free until now. Give them a reason to pay gladly, don’t try to pressure them into coughing up money grudgingly."

( Which brings me to Yahoo Mail :-\ )

If I had a nickel for every time I wrote about a certain infamous episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends on the anniversary of its original broadcast, I'd have THREE nickels now... Though in this case it's just a relative quickie :-)

( An interesting YouTube find )

In this edition, the Asian Games cricket tournament in Japan, plus drum beating, some rainout drama, a few other asides, and yet another tournament in Malaysia for Thailand (the men this time, tho)

( Konnichiwa, plus another excursion to Malaysia )

The recent (and since-reversed) forced closure of Nitter brought a concept for a post I've had for a while back to the front-burner, because this wasn't my first rodeo with someone exerting control on how comments on their site could be re-used...

( Don't quote me on that )

Following Thai women cricket's exploits on a tour of Papua New Guinea in the far east, then the Women's T20 Asia Cup in the far west, plus U17 action on the homefront :-)

( From one end of the continent to the other )

Drew Olanoff's comment on big tech treating their users not like humans, but rather like bits and bytes and revenue dollars, keeps on giving :-\ In this post, thoughts on social media becoming no-lurking zones

( When social media goes members-only )

Featuring the ACC U19 Women's Premier Cup 2026, and the Women's U19 T20 World Cup Qualifiers

( One tourney after another in Malaysia, again, youth women edition )

After trying Gold in the Kodak H35 the previous year, I decided to check out Kodak Colorplus's performance in half-frame... One good thing about getting twice the frames in a roll: More chances to capture the stars, since I managed to catch 4(!) events with celebs on this roll :-)

( Colorplus, divided by two )

Earlier in the month, I reposted an old otherwise lost fanfic, and mentioned in a parenthetical that "I also didn't expect that this wouldn't be the only post to be made this month about ancient Winx fandom content going missing"... Well, here's that other post...

( A real blast from the past )

Breaking news from the world of image hosting...

( Minor content warning )

Never thought I'd do a 3rd of these posts, and I expected this to be relatively quick, until I found a big breakthrough in the question of who's making these videos...

( (Not just) Thailand in the eyes of AI )

Hard to believe it's been 20 years (!) since I reviewed fanfics submitted for a contest on the late Michael's Winx Club, and got yelled at by both Michael and TF, the founder of the also-late LJ group where I originally intended to post the reviews :-\

(I also didn't expect that this wouldn't be the only post to be made this month about ancient Winx fandom content going missing, but that other post is coming later)

Look, I'm not going to re-litigate the central thesis of their complaints: that reviewing these fanfics is fundamentally unempathetic towards young under-18 (at the time, obvi) writers, like that time 30 Rock had Jenna go all Simon Cowell against young kids at a singing contest (and ironically, I tried citing Cowell as a reason to argue in favor of allowing criticism) That said, reading the reviews 20 years later, I can somewhat see where they're coming from, since some of the reviews look somewhat harsh, even if to nowhere near the same degree as Jenna... (I also think some of Michael and TF's comments were too disproportionately harsh against critiques, but as I said, this is not the place to re-litigate the issue)

The real reason I decided to post about this (other than it being the anniversary) is because one of the main reasons I thought about making the reviews in the first place was that the winning fic, by someone named Eva L, ended up having what I felt was an unsatisfying ending, and I was thinking that perhaps others would feel the same way... But ever since Michael's site went offline in 2019 (wow, 7 years already?), it has been unavailable to read, even on Wayback, even though the also-rans did get Wayback-ed :-\ But I managed to grab the fic during the site's last weeks of existence, so here it is, rescued from the heap of internet impermanence, the winning fanfic that started this whole mess :-) (Presented as originally posted with no commentary, and I already made it 20 years ago anyway)

( Fic )

These particular episodes made me feel that I wanted to (figuratively) take a highlighter to go over the parts Frank15 had issues with, since they mostly only happened because of 4Kids changes, and by coincidence, both of these are the 10th episodes of their respective seasons... So, here's a closer look at 1x10 and 2x10 :-) [My notes are all in square brackets]

( Episode 10: Magical Reality Chamber )

( Episode 36: Reaching for the Sky )

In this edition: ChatGPT's take on the Ireland/Thailand situation, more local thoughts, and two tournaments for the women in Malaysia (plus one in Singapore for the men :-))

( One tourney after another, Malaysia edition )

In which Frank15 questions the value of bravery against ~~Valtor~~Baltor, as Enchantix and new lore enters the picture... before his reviews come to an abrupt halt, so no thoughts on Nabu, Diaspro's short-lived plot, the trips to the various realms, most of the girls' Enchantix, or the eventual shortcomings of season 3 :-\ (I do have something special prepared for next Tuesday, though :-))

( Episode 58: The Mermaid Queen )

( Episode 59: Royal Behavior )

In which Frank15 notices the absence of a major element of S2's back-end, plus a couple of blatant plot holes in the Winx and Trix's first S3 fight

( Episode 56: Mirror of Truth )

( Episode 57: Mission to Tides )

In which Frank15 laments Musa's new 'do, Cassandra planning to marry for power instead of love, and the lack of Mirta at Stella's Princess Ball

( Episode 53: The Princess' Ball )

( Episode 54: Beauty is a Beast )

( Episode 55: Pretty, Pretty Princess )

In which Frank15 brings season 2 home, and even remembers a long-gestating plot point this time :-)

( Episode 51: Storming Shadowhaunt )

( Episode 52: The Ultimate Power Couple )

After problems last time I used Vision 250D (costing THB 270 this time) in the Kodak M35, this one managed to run perfectly without slipping off the take-up; however, many of the less well-exposed images seemed to have some sort of green cast over the dark parts, and I'm wondering if something was wrong with the scanner at the ECN2 lab :-\ (I looked at the film when it was returned; didn't seem to have anything weird going on)

( Same 250D, different problem )

In which Frank15 warms up to Timmy a little, and questions a bunch of questionable moments from both Winx and Trix, for which 4Kids isn't to blame for once, unlike a certain plothole that goes completely unmentioned (yes, it had gestated for half-a-season or so, but still)

( Episode 48: Last Resorts )

( Episode 49: Darkness and Light )

( Episode 50: Desperately Seeking Bloom )