Hugos, part two

2012-09-03T03:16:54Z

For the record, my actual plan, before tonight, was to write a nice quick "Congrats to all the Hugo winners!" and leave it there. (Although, you know, and even though the Hugos are still getting awarded as I type, congrats to all the Hugo winners, especially Betsy Wolheim who won for a very, very long overdue award for Best Editor, Long Form. Like 25 years overdue. That was great. Onwards.)

Then, first Worldcon failed to provide a ramp to the stage. Then, Worldcon decided to do a live broadcast through UStream, which was going great until the Best Dramatic Presentation, short form. Among the nominees was a small show that you might have heard of, called Community, owned by a little company you also might have heard of called NBC Universal. Do we remember my recent ranting about NBC? Yes, yes we do. Also nominated were some episodes from Doctor Who, owned by the BBC, U.S. broadcast rights owned by BBC America, and an acceptance speech from last year's Hugos, whose copyright status no one cares about. To the surprise of no one, Neil Gaiman won for his Doctor Who episode, climbed up the stairs (I did mention I'd be ranting) and right in the middle of his speech those of us watching saw this little cheery message:

"Worldcon was removed due to violation of terms of service.
Click here to discover related content on Ustream!"

The violation was a copyright violation, either for the Doctor Who or (more likely) Community clips.

As I type, Worldcon is still banned from UStream.

So that was fun. Or, you know, not.

(Worldcon/Chicon 7 says that the clips were pre-approved. I suspect we'll all be hearing a LOT more about this. My favorite Tweet so far:

"RT danielsolis: Best Short Dramatic Presentation (2013) goes to the raging reaction of everyone watching the #Hugos ustream."

#

The ramp, part two:

I'm still upset about this.

I'm hardly the only writer, much less the only member, of the science fiction community who uses a wheelchair or mobility scooter or other device. It's common.

And I am serious: the last thing I want is to have a ramp brought out especially for me or any other wheelchair user. I want it there already, so that no one has to make a fuss, nothing special has to be done, and so I and everyone can be fully part of the community.

I'm repeating myself, I know, but maybe I have to, in order to be heard. And I suspect this year the only thing that will get heard is the UStream irritation.

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Hugos, part two