(via bbymandi)
Y'all I found where that Chris meme came from 😂😂😂😂
she’s beauty she’s grace she’s in love with aliens and space
she’s gorgeous, she’s seductive; she wants to be abducted
she’s intelligent - she’s priceless, she’s having an extraterrestrial crisis
she’s brilliant, she’s wise; she’s an alien in disguise
She’s mischievous and smart, that alien has my heart
She’s wild, she’s free, she’s the only alien for me
She’s the moon, she’s the stars, all she wants is to live on Mars
She’s bold, she’s hip, she wants to ride in a rocket ship
She’s cool, she’s hot, she’s a genuine, bonafide astronaut
She’s near, she’s far, she shines brighter than the stars
she’s here, she’s there, she’s a galactic extraordinaire
she’s smart, she’s kind, she’s the alien on my mind
she’s a blessing, she’s a curse, but damn she’s my universe
nem sirok csak 65ezren belementek a szemembe
A crowd of 65,000 sings ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ perfectly while waiting for a Green Day concert
THIS. IS. PERFECTION.
Amazing!
1. how the fuck did Green Day follow that
2. you know, we have fun here, with the word “meme,” but according to meme theory, which is an actual thing pioneered by reptilian human impersonator Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, most of what we call memes are very unsuccessful memes. A meme, in the scientific sense - if one is generously disposed to consider memetics a science on any particular day - is an idea that acts like a gene. That is, it seeks to replicate itself, as many times as possible, and as faithfully as possible.
That second part is important. A gene which is not faithful in its replication mutates, sometimes rapidly, sometimes wildly. The result might be cancer or a virus or (very very very rarely) a viable evolutionary step forward, but whatever the case, it is no longer the original gene. That gene no longer exists. It could not successfully reproduce itself.
The memes we pass around on the internet are, in general, very short lived and rapidly mutating. It’s rare for any meme to survive for more than a year: in almost all cases, they appear, spread rapidly, spawn a thousand short-lived variations, and then are swiftly forgotten. They’re not funny anymore, or interesting anymore. They no longer serve any function, and so they’re left behind, a mental evolutionary dead end.
This rendition of Freddie Mercury’s immortal opera Bohemian Rhapsody is about the most goddamned amazing demonstration of a successful meme I’ve ever seen. This song is 42 years old, as of 2017. FORTY TWO YEARS OLD. And it has spread SO far, and replicated itself across the minds of millions of people SO faithfully, that a gathering of 65,000 more or less random people, with nothing in common except that they all really like it when Billie Joe Armstrong does the thing with the guitar, can reproduce it perfectly. IN PERFECT TIME. THEY KNOW THE EXACT LENGTH OF EVERY BRIDGE. THEY EVEN GET THE NONSENSE WORDS RIGHT. THEY DIVIDE THEMSELVES UP IN ORDER TO SING THE COUNTER-CHORUS.
“Yeah, Pyrrhic, lots of people know this song.”
Listen, you glassy-eyed ninny: our species’ ability to coherently pass along not just genetic information, but memetic information as well, is the reason we’re the dominant species on this planet. Language is a meme. Civilization is a collection of memes. Lots of animals can learn, but we may be the only animal that latches onto ephemera - information that doesn’t reflect any concrete reality, information with little to no immediate practical application - and then joyfully, willfully, unrelentingly repeats it and teaches it to others. Look at how wild this crowd is, because they’re singing the same song! It doesn’t DO anything. It’s not even why they showed up here today! If you sent out a letter to those same 65,000 people that said, “Please show up in this field on this day in order to sing Bohemian Rhapsody,” very few of them would have showed up. But I would be surprised to meet a single person in that crowd who joined in the singing who doesn’t remember this moment as the most amazing part of a concert they paid hundreds of dollars to see.
And they’re just sharing an idea. It’s stunning and ridiculous. Something about how our brains work make us go, “Hey!! Hey everybody!! I found this idea! It’s good! I like it! I’m going to repeat it! Do you know it too?? Repeat it with me! Let’s get EVERYBODY to know it and repeat it and then we can all have it together at the same time! It’s a good idea! I’m so excited to repeat it exactly the way I heard it, as loudly as I can, as often as possible!!”
This is how culture happens! This is how countries happen! Sometimes a persistent, infectious idea - a meme - can be dangerous or dark. But our human delight at clutching up good memes like magpies and flapping back to our flock to yell about them to everyone we know is why we as a species bothered to start doing things like “telling stories” and “writing stuff down.”
“That’s a lot of spilled ink for a Queen song, Pyrrhic.”
Man I just fucking love people.
Posted this before but man i love this
Memetics are a fundamental concept of civilization, but few species (that don’t possess a hive mind) can spontaneously unify their actions in this manner. (RF: flashmob)
anyway, this video made me cry.
A Glossary of Publishing Terms: Vol 1.
Here’s the first volume in what will be an expanding glossary of publishing terminology. If you have any questions about any term defined in this list, feel free to let me know and I’ll create an expanded definition for you.
Acquisition: The process of a publisher buying the rights to a manuscript from an author or agent.
Agent: The person who represents an author’s work and interests, submits their manuscripts to editors for acquisition, and negotiates contracts.
ARC (Advanced Reader Copy)/Galley/Proof: A promotional copy of a novel distributed for marketing purposes before publication. ARCs are usually not-yet-finalized, paperback versions of the book, which may have: minor copy editing errors, missing dedication/acknowledgment pages, or no cover art. They’re distributed mainly to reviewers, librarians, booksellers, and other industry professionals, but also make appearances at various book/fan festivals.
Big Five: The biggest publishing houses: Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. These five houses publish and sell the majority of books you see in stores and have a lot of sway in the industry.
Draft: A specific version of your manuscript, used for describing the state your manuscript is currently in. You can have a current draft, a past draft, a first draft, a revised draft, a final draft, or a 38th draft.
Editor: The person at the publishing house who acquires and helps revise an author’s manuscript
Imprint: A publishing house within a publishing house, basically. An imprint is a division of a publishing house that tends to focus on a certain genre or style of book. A chart showing the imprints of the big five publishers.
Lead titles: The predetermined “bestsellers” on a season’s list, which get the most publicity and marketing for that season, and often receive the biggest advances.
Manuscript: Basically the best term for a book before it’s actually in print. When you carry your novel around in a binder or as a stack of pages, it’s a manuscript. When you carry your novel around bound in a pretty cover, it becomes a book.
Publisher: A company that acquires manuscripts and prepares them for sale
Query/-ing: n. the combination of a cover “query” letter and sample chapters of a manuscript to be submitted to literary agents in the hopes of acquiring representation; v. the process of submitting queries to literary agents
Revise and Resubmit (R&R): A response from an editor or agent in between an offer and a rejection, when they are interested in a book, but do not want to take it on in its current state. Agents and editors who request R&Rs will also often request first looks at the revised manuscripts as a professional courtesy in return for their editorial letters/guidance. R&Rs may result in an offer from an editor or agent, or they may result in a rejection.
Seasons: The publishing industry divides the year into three “seasons”: fall, winter, and spring/summer. For each season, publishers will produce catalogues showcasing the titles to be published in that calendar period. These seasons and catalogs can affect books’ publications. For example: titles may be pushed back in publication to fit a certain season (a novel about ghosts will generally be published in September, in the fall catalog where it is most salable). Titles may also not be acquired because there are already similar titles in certain catalogs, and the publishers may not want to publish competing books.
Starred Review: Trade reviews give “stars” to books of “exceptional merit.” Good reviews of upcoming publications are not always starred. Starred reviews can be influential when publishers are selling books to bookstores, libraries, and other institutions.
Submission (sub): The process of an agent sending a manuscript out to editors with a goal of acquisition.
The Slush Pile: Unsolicited manuscripts sent to 1) publishers without agents/requests from publishers, or 2) agents without requests (less common usage).
Trade Review: A review in a trade publication, ie. a publication meant for industry professionals instead of general consumers, such as Publishers Weekly.
yourfavouritedoll