Carrie Ann

I'm married to a designer and used to work for an agency, so I hear about this stuff a lot. The professional organizations that represent people who do this kind of work--design, advertising, etc.--are generally against crowdsourcing/design contests as it devalues this kind of work and is near free labor, which eliminates jobs. So while I agree that fans have often made nicer looking stuff than the CW produces, it's not ideal to put it on fans to create a bunch of free work and then "reward" only one of them with the win (and maybe a prize of some sort). It tells the CW they don't need to employ photographers, designers, etc., because fans will do all their work for them for free. That doesn't mean they couldn't employ fan artists, though. The ideal would be for the Marketing department to keep an eye on the fans who are producing nice work and reach out to one with a contract for a specific piece (like the poster, or some of their social media images like the weird ones they've put out to promote the DVDs). Then they could take the PR win of saying that they used a fan artist, while also paying the person who produced the work (while not also asking others to produce work unpaid).

Ah, Freedom of Speech. We'd almost made it through this whole debacle without invoking the First Amendment. I have absolutely read things on this board and elsewhere that are also offensive to me, yes. What is your point? When I found those things offensive, I made note of it. It made me view the poster differently. As I now view Stephen differently. And Stephen's original post was in poor judgment, and many people in better position than he to judge told him so. That's not "going extreme." He ignored or outright dismissed those people and the very idea that he might be in the wrong. Today, he seems to have taken a step toward greater understanding (after several steps seemingly in the other direction). Some people are open to accepting that and moving on, maybe some aren't, maybe some people feel like he has been in the right at every step so far and should never have apologized. Maybe you're one of the latter. But I'm not sure what your point is, other than to belittle those of us who disagree?

I hope that he makes a more polished version of this reply and makes an actual post out of it. Because THIS is the thing people have been trying to get him to admit and acknowledge. Brushing people's real concerns off was the real problem, not the initial fuck-up. If this is really how he feels now, then great, stop making the other DICKHEAD statements and be humble.

Yes, KC and EBR seem to have become better friends from the end of last season until now. They've vacationed together, they spend a lot of time off-set with each other. I don't think it matters that they didn't share many scenes before later last season. I certainly think there's an element of actorly drama to their silly tweets, but EBR has directed the same type of thing at her. I think we can assume that they are actually friends. As far as Colton--I don't think they knew each other before Arrow. Anyway, the fact that they ARE friends is just more reason that I don't think Katie's intentionally shading Emily with this stuff. It would be illogical anyway, considering that Felicity has had her own storyline--separate from Oliver--for two seasons now. Other than McKenna and Carly Diggle, I don't think there's been any character on Arrow who was little more than an LI (and even McKenna served a plot function). Maybe Katie realized that she herself was placing too much importance on the idea of her character being Oliver's love interest? I doubt it, but if so, good for her!

Maybe because she isn't trying to put her down? Maybe she's thinking only of Laurel when she talks about not being a love interest anymore? I honestly don't think she is good at the PR stuff, and I do think that she gets a little coaching on how to answer certain types of questions or at least she preps herself for them, which is why we end up hearing the same answers pretty often. I think Katie is aware that she's spent three years talking about L/O being soulmates, about being in a "love triangle" in S3 with O/F which she wasn't, asking fans to tell the writers that they want O/L together...and now she's been made to understand that that is over. It's not happening, and she needs a new line to make it seem like she's not disappointed about it. So she's gone with this "happy to be more than a love interest" thing and I honestly don't think she intends to shade Felicity or Emily. She's made it clear in the past that she doesn't pay a ton of attention to what's happening elsewhere on the show, and I think that's true here too. She doesn't realize that being dismissive of the idea of being someone's "love interest" could be seen as dismissive of other people on her show.

I don't think we know exactly when QL got sober, but my ex was still regularly going to meetings and talking to his sponsor when he was 12 years sober. Eventually you may become a sponsor yourself, but I don't think you ever stop having a sponsor because you're never done with the program. Laurel may not have known who his sponsor was (though...not for any reason of anonymity, because they apparently went to meetings together and most sponsors are out about their recovery, etc.), but yeah, this is just a writing error, to never bring this up. And ITA with @morakot that the writers botched Laurel's addiction/recovery story in general, because major life changes PLUS replacing an addiction with another high-adrenaline, high-risk behavior would be no-no's. But, it's TV recovery, so here we are.

I think she said sometimes you don't end up with the "love of your life." So, yeah, she doesn't apparently think that Laurel will find another love interest that surpasses Oliver.

No, she just thought it would be cool to show that Sara and Laurel move like each other because they're sisters. But for some reason, she put this on her stunt double to handle.

I actually like the idea that LL and SL would share mannerisms--of course they would, they're sisters. (My sister and I take after opposite sides of our family, but people always think we look alike because we make the same faces, gestures, etc.) But, then, if anyone should study CL's mannerisms, it's Katie, not her stunt double. The girls should share mannerisms from their regular lives, because that's how they knew each other. It doesn't make a lot of sense that Laurel and Sara would share fighting styles or stances or movements when they never fought together and in fact, Laurel barely ever saw Sara in action? But whatever, I wouldn't really be opposed to the idea that they might end up performing the same moves the same way because I can fanwank that they're supposed to physically resemble each other more than they do. It's just that if you're gonna go for that there, why not do it with the rest of your character too? Who knows, maybe she has and she just didn't mention it.

When MG has been called on his shitty, offensive writing choices in the past by progressive fans who expect more in this day and age, he has been similarly dismissive and whiny about it, so I am sure he's in SA's corner here. I mean, maybe he'd prefer if Stephen took a little break from social media for awhile, but I think they're in agreement on the crux of Stephen's concerns. I mean, the guy believes in reverse sexism, so...

I almost broke one of my own Twitter rules, which is never engage with celebs on shit like this, and in doing so, I looked at his replies. They were 100% positive. Oh wait, there was one that was just a "really?" and a sideeye, but that's it. I'm sure others will chime in with negativity, but if that's the usual ratio? And he can't handle less than 5% of his @-mentions being negative? GO CRY MORE, STEPHEN. Just...do it offline, somewhere. And then stay there, for a long time.

Seriously, this is really pathetic at this point. This dismissive, self-pitying--and ALSO somehow self-aggrandizing--act is so unattractive and disappointing. Way to show your true colors, bro.

I'm guessing she gets a kick out of using that machine gun, maybe?

I have something of a sparkling/mineral water addiction, and when it comes to LaCroix (which we also call LaCroy--there's a river in MN spelled that way and pronounced St. Croy so it's hardwired), I second the rec for the Pamplemousse (the cartons do also say Grapefruit, but I think we can agree that's not nearly as fun to say) and the harder-to-find Apricot. Not a big fan of any of the other flavors. (Tara & Dave, I saw your NY Seltzer haul, so you're probably all set, but I also really like the Lemon-Lime Canada Dry, if you can find that near you. That one is more flavorful and less metallic than most lemon or lime options, I think. Tastes like an unsweetened Sprite, to me.) Also a quick note of something I think on a weekly basis and then forget: I love the way you've incorporated ads. Really liked the EHG Micro on sisters this week. Rob, you seem like a good bro.

Yeah, in this instance, the 140-character thing doesn't wash for me because it wasn't just one tweet. He didn't just drop that first false equivalence bomb and then leave for a few hours and come back to a mess he didn't know how to clean up. That, I probably would have been more sympathetic to. It's the following dozen tweets and replies and RTs that showed the depths of his ignorance and worse, that that ignorance is willful. It was the attitude--that if people are "outraged about an opinion, they must be bored." Way to dismiss hurt and disappointment as outrage, pal! He has yet to show himself open to learning something from this, other than your standard-issue white dude "People are too easily offended!!!" lesson. I hope to hear something different from him in the coming weeks, but I'm not holding my breath.

I see what you're saying, but these aren't actually the only two options. There's something in between Stan and Hater--where fans can say, "Hey, dude, I like you, but this thing is unacceptable." And then you can hope he learns or grows or changes, and if he doesn't, then you choose to what level you continue to engage with him. Maybe it's a dealbreaker to the point that you swear off him and all of his projects for infinity (hey, Adam Baldwin!), or maybe you're fine with watching his stuff but you don't care for him as a person anymore (hey, Isaiah Washington!), or maybe you just accept that he has some blind spots and you can still be a fan of both him and his work. I've accepted SA's other blind spots before--his casual sexism, for example--but this has been really disappointing and I'm not sure how I'll feel about him going forward.

I swear to God I always step away from the internet during the best/worst moments. I just...it's been a bad week for my white male celeb crushes. This (and the Matt Damon Project Greenlight thing) is about as close to the definition of whitesplaining as it gets. And he will not understand the distinction here because his privilege (and, let's be real, his self-regard) prevents him from seeing the simple key: that a non-oppressed group (Texas...?) can't be systemically harmed by "stereotyping," while members of the oppressed group are actually harmed by that, personally and systemically. I know his heart is generally in the right place but if he doesn't see that some Texans having a frowny face for a day is not even in the same universe as a 14-year-old Muslim boy being taken from school in handcuffs? His (apparent) first instinct--to stay quiet about real life events on Twitter--was the right one. Think twice, tweet...well, maybe never, SA.

They've evolved the costumes enough times for me to believe that something like that will happen sooner rather than later. Stephen's already made remarks about the practicality issue, and they're not even into freezing cold night shoots yet. Come winter, I suspect he will make some...suggestions for alterations.

Well, none of those people were hot on S3 either, and while I wouldn't say any of them "blamed" Felicity/Olicity per se, they did all have complaints about them. Mo and Ryan strayed into the "too much crying, not enough funny stuff" camp with Felicity, for example, and I know Ryan was at least temporarily off the O/F ship. The difference is that they (and critics of that level) tend to blame writing when things go south, versus just jumping to the idea that a character/relationship they used to like is suddenly inherently terrible and must be responsible for the failure of the whole season. On the other side, because I've followed their criticism for awhile, I know that none of them have been on-board with Laurel or Roy, since the beginning. They always noted that they couldn't really engage with those characters (Thea too, to a lesser extent). But they understood that the show would eventually have to do something to make them work, because they understand the realities of television as a business. My impression is that none of them were particularly impressed with the way the show tried to accomplish that this season either. They just seem to take a more holistic view of shows, and what is working and not working and why. I tend to ignore any "critics" of the show who don't do that, in any direction. Like, there are some Olicity-positive writers who are equally myopic about the show, and I have no interest in that either.

It's always funny to me whenever this issue of who really loves whom comes up, because it makes me feel like I must be a big, sentimental sap. Because I would say that I love all of my friends. Anyone that I wouldn't say that about, I would consider more of an acquaintance or a very casual friend. Maybe that's how I define "friend?" So to me, of course Oliver loved/loves Laurel. Of course he loved Sara. Of course he loves every member of Team Arrow. Including Roy.

Mmmm, back.

Weird. Sounds like she was very sweet to that fan though!

Let us absolutely do tropes. It was one of the things I first grew to love about Arrow--the way they'd take a trope and then subvert it, or twist it a little. Kept me on my toes. I could do with more of them, to be honest. Give me every trope, all tropes.

Here for the flailing party if anyone wants to just flail around with me oh MY GOD. I can't wait to see how the writers pull out all the angsty stops after all this, I am here for all of that. I predict the season ends with Oliver thinking Felicity is dead/her father or whoever kidnapping her. Love it.

That's one thing about the flash-forward that doesn't appeal to me. Yeah, a big anvil waiting to drop would probably add the sense of "jeopardy" to everything all season, but I think it could also cut any positive energy you feel, and cut into the drama of the season. Because you're really just biding time until this thing happens. It reminds me of why I can never care too much about the flashbacks. There aren't any stakes in the drama if I know where we're ultimately headed. Sure, some things along the way can be interesting or entertaining, but I know that eventually, Oliver comes home with his mission. I care about that part, not as much about the journey that got him there. Anyway, so yeah, I think if we knew that there was a chance that any member of Team Arrow could actually be under DD's spell at any time (or actually be DD, I guess although...yikes, so cheesy), that would create more drama and stress than just knowing there's some awful thing coming our way.