(I had a much better title for this post...until LiveJournal ate it. So I borrowed from Martina McBride.)

Steven Gould, author of Jumper, upon which the new movie is based, recently stated:

"Millions of dollars and hundreds of people are involved in creating a work whose genesis is my writing. This is incredibly cool."

I thought this a poignant and important statement, in that it was stated this in response to various fans complaining that the movie wasn't the book, that those horrible people in Hollywood changed things from the books, and...

...well, you know: the usual kneejerk head’splode tooth-gnashing and robe-tearing fandom behavior that goes with something being turned into a movie, remade for a new generation, or altered the least little bit from the original.

This is a habit of fandom I find infuriating and asinine. Rather than being excited to see what new visions might have been wrought upon some theme or work, or recognizing the incredible flattery that lies behind re-visioning a work, they bitch and whine and scream like babies clutching desperately and selfishly to their mother's teat. Bottles? Solid foods? MADNESSMADNESSMADNESS!

I think it must be related to this other bad habit.

One rather well-known game designer, whom I did not expect such from, pulled the very same thing when he went to see I Am Legend, and complained that it wasn't the book and therefore it stunk and how dare Hollywood pollute it by changing the ending?

But that's ridiculous: as I said to him, "Why did you go to a movie expecting a book?"

So I think it important to reiterate the most important idea "...millions of dollars and hundreds of people are involved in creating a work whose genesis is my writing." Emphasis mine.

That's awesome, and any true fan should be excited, not horrified or disgusted, that their favorite writer/fiction/whatever is receiving -- or rather inspiring -- that kind of creative attention, even if it isn't just exactly like the original.

Because we are talking about the highest compliments being paid to a creator and their creation, even if they get it "wrong". After all, there's tons of crap that never gets any attention and thus remains pure and undiluted.

Oh yeah, one other annoying thing about fanbois: the self-congratulatory back-patting and "we're great guys" social reinforcement that always follows a successful thread raid. Which also usually consists of ignoring any of the criticisms of their criticisms and rewriting thread history to make themselves the "good guys."

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If these guys ever learned to actually read, they'd be dangerous. As is, it's like listening to an alcoholic with a serious head injury talk about political conspiracy theories and how the government is out to get him. And when you don't believe him, or tell him he's drunk, he shouts bad things about you to everyone in the bar and alternately argues how he isn't drunk and has the right to be drunk.

Fucking gamer fanbois. Fucking idiots.