Fametracker

[january]

There is a new Galaxy of Fame and it is not funny at all. The site needs to be put down.

I agree. The Galaxy of Fame is the only feature I ever read, and I used to enjoy it, but lately they've been pretty bad. Oh well.

[suzyp]

Thanks, BrokenOx! I knew someone would be able to come up with updated stats! It doesn't surprise me that Tom Hanks is number 1 overall.

[Deleted]

Okay, I'll just say it. I rarely understood wing's comments on the forums (when she was just chiming in - not administering). Was she trying to be funny or was it in code that only the cool kids could understand?

[Deleted]

I think the whole DHAK clique have thier little in-jokes and shout outs.

[tmi]

Brookie said:

I haven't linked to FT since they shoved us all out of the nest and had us fly off to the hinterlands. Fortunately, this (CPMCoG) is a fabulous hinterland and I'm glad we all landed here.

Me neither. I know I'm repeating what a lot of people said when the FT forums imploded-- i.e., that the forums were the only reason they went there-- but it's even truer than I knew. I don't think I've wandered over there once since the great ship went down. (it was sad, so sad. . . not so much)

And I'll echo a lot of other people again in saying I like it over here a lot better. It's mellow, fun, at least as smart/witty-- and the pink has totally grown on me.

[cattywampus]

Vacationland said:

My guess is that it's not a matter of finding a picture, but clearing the copyrights. They might've played fast and loose in the old days (with the altered--but uncredited--images) but since there's a H!ITG book coming out soon, they're probably more aware of legal and copyright issues these days. Having dealt with intellectual property lawyers, it's the kind of thing they'd bring up if they were reviewing a nonfiction manuscript and ancillaries (of which FT is one). This is particularly true if they're planning to use the site as part of a book marketing strategy, and they'd be crazy not to do so.

It may also just be a matter of not having time...writing and editing is comparatively quick, finding and altering an image to match earlier images, then animating that image? Not quite as quick. And if someone else (Glark?) was doing the images, a free website has got to take a back seat to a revenue-generating one like Glarkware (or commercial work done under the UBER banner).

Me? I'm a fan of H!ITG in particular...I'm a sucker for character actors, so I was thrilled to find a site that would help me put names to faces. That's how I found FT in the first place, via a Google search!

Just a question for you since you're a fan of HITG...do you really think there's a market for this book? I'm just curious what you and others think. I rarely if ever knew any of the people they highlighted, and couldn't have cared less about them. I'm not saying this to denigrate your opinion at all, I'm glad someone "gets it" even though I don't. But I'm really wondering if this is a book that will have any real market. Thoughts?

And I am in violent agreement:...this is a paradise of a hinterland. The smart, funny and nice people came here but the trolls and troublemakers mostly stayed away. Good deal for everybody, and long live Princess WTF of Wherever! Hee hee. (By the way, a certain someone at FT who shall not be mentioned hated "hee hee" so I am gleefully posting it here.)

[brinksteria]

I think there's a market for the H!ITG! book. But I'd guess it's not best-seller sized, and it won't include me. The market size is probably somewhere between the number of unidentified Kevin Federline progeny (~11?) and the average infestation of K-Fed body lice on any given day (~11,000?).

Even with the fallout against Wing in the last days of FT, Wing & Co. still have a broad following. If even a small percentage of her fans from FT & TWoP buy a copy, the book will probably turn a profit for the publisher.

[outlier]

Cattywampus said:

Just a question for you since you're a fan of HITG...do you really think there's a market for this book? I'm just curious what you and others think. I rarely if ever knew any of the people they highlighted, and couldn't have cared less about them. I'm not saying this to denigrate your opinion at all, I'm glad someone "gets it" even though I don't. But I'm really wondering if this is a book that will have any real market. Thoughts?

Maybe not. HITG! was a great idea for all your long time Denham Eliots, William H Macys and Walshs (JT & Emmet) but towards the end it seemed like they were scraping the barrel. I didn't recognise a lot of the names, and in the end there was only so many snarky comments you could make about them. I think this may have been a larger problem at FT - just running out of material. Sure, there are new movies and TV and celebs every day, but FT was outstripping the supply for all but the most devoted fans.

NINJA EDIT: a question regarding "The Asterisk". I seem to recall that early on The Asterisk actually did have some real items. Then it suddenly became all fake (and as a consequence, no tfunny at all). Any similar recollections?

[cattywampus]

I don't recall the asterisk ever being real or funny. After a very short while I just stopped looking at it.

I never found any of the merchandise compelling enough to buy even though I did pony up $100 for an ad on TWoP once.

The only time I liked the FT "content" was when MFF wrote it. I think he was the only funny one there. Most of the Galaxies of fame were co-written by MFF so I don't think I knew how unfunny a certain other person was until we saw stuff like
this
and the MSNBC on-internet Oscar duel (click on "Oscar Predictions")between she who shall not be named and a certain other smug and sanctimonious sort who shares a name with the acronym for a deadly viral disease. The video feed actually made me cringe and leave the room, I was so embarrased for them. I really can't imagine that they'll have much of a following there after crap like this.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I never really found the actual articles on FT funny. Most of the people on the boards were funnier than the authors on FT. I don't think I ever laughed reading anything on the main FT site, but maybe I didn't read the right articles. Does anyone have any good recommendations of what to read on FT?