Non, Sire, c’est… well, actually, we’re not quite sure.
Following the call by the eminent Ms Gwyneth Llewelyn for a general strike of the gallant fraternity (and sorority) of bloggers against the unbearable tyranny brought upon us by His Majesty’s legal and marketing departments (as documented here, here, and here), this blog will be on strike from today April 15th until April 18th 2008. No post will be available for perusal but those linked here, and none will be added until then.
As a diverting and topically appropriate interlude, we offer a reenactement of M. Hugo’s Les Misérables with a superb contemporary cast, starring Codebastard Redgrave as Jean Valjean (left), Ana Lutetia as Éponine (kneeling on the barricade), Jacek Antonelli as Marius (second from the left), Kit Meredith as Gavroche (right), and Gwyneth Llewelyn as la Liberté (center); also guest starring Catherine Linden as Thénardier, Robin Linden as Javert and Philip Linden as His most gracious Majesty, the King of France.
La Liberté menant le peuple, par Eugène Delacroix
Now if I could just think of another song to sing on the barricades but this one:
Ah ça ira, ça ira, les aristocrates à la lanterne…
Post scriptum
it has been brought to our attention that the following blogs are on strike:
- Gwyn’s Home, by the eminent Ms Llewelyn herself
- getasecondlife.net, by the always charming Ms Cat Magellan
- Tagus Friends Weblog, by Ms Afrodite Ewry and her friends from Portugal
- Codebastardredgrave.com, by my beloved Red Queen
- Jacek Lives, by the Queen of cuddlefishes, Ms Jacek Antonelli
- What Is This Crap, by the honourable if contrarian Mr Crap Mariner
- iYan Writer in Second Life, by that most respectable gardener, Mr iYan Writer
- Second Life, First Person, by the always smart Ms Kit Meredith
- The podcast site of the well known Mr Tao Takashi
- Tenth Life, by a Caledonian gentleman, Mr Otenth Paderborn
- SignpostMarv’s SL Blog, by a gentleman of the coding persuasion, Mr SignpostMarv Martin
- Discursos do Outro Mundo, by a Portuguese Gentleman, Mr PalUP Ling
- airdiogo, another blog from Portugal
- Education in virtual/real worlds, yet another blog from Portugal
- Liberdade Perfeita, and yet another blog from that plucky country on the Iberian peninsula
- Portal Second Life, and it is another one indeed
- Also Portucalis, Second Life Portugal, Ms Summer Wardhani’s A praia da minha Second Life, Fokas’s Weblog and PT Code too, as our dazed eyes and minds realise
- Lost in Bananaverse, by the leguminous (nay, fruity) Mr Guy “Banana” Schilling
- A Stroll through Caledon, by the very stylish Ms Eladrienne Laval
of Caledon Regency & Mayfair - Virtual Jungle, by the wisely rebellious Mr Danton Sideways
- In Praise of Folly, by a gentleman of the legal profession, Mr Forelle Broek
- CronoCloud Creeggan, Virtual Fashionista, by the aforementioned
- The Avatar Lunette Fouroux, another blog with a self explaining title
- Girl meets Second Life, by the sweet if martial Ms Caterin Semyorka
- second life® of my dreams, by the ever gracious Ms Chestnut Rau
- Midcourt, by a manly gentleman, Mr Jordyn Carnell
- Voyage from Pluto, by the very sweet Ms Anna Junebug Tsiolkovsky
- The Young and the Rezzless, by the intrepid Ms Jezabell Barbosa
- iAlja Writer’s life in a trademarked world, by the always lively Ms iAlja Writer
- Also, Ms Zoe Connolly, of SLBloggers and Caledon Royal Air force fame, is not only joining the strike with her Aviatrix:: Zoe Connolly, but in fact extending it to impressive 30 days
- Finally, the charming and witty Minister of the First Church of Rosedale, Ms Samantha Poindexter, has let us know that her call and beliefs do not allow her to join us, but that she wishes the strike the best of luck
We have also been notified that not content with shutting down its entire SL related blogosphere, Portugal also witnesses its bona fide RL press picking up the issue. Ah, felix Portugal…
Please do not hesitate to notify us of further developments.
Post Post Scriptum:
The strike has ended, but the story around it has not. Those interested in both its past and future might find this odd beast of a post of interest.
50 Comments
Viva la revolucion!
Rheta, you’re clearly insane – LOL
@Harper: I have no idea what you are speaking of , I swear!
@Gwyneth: shh, don’t tell the meatverse AV, she suspects as much already :)
Philip Linden will be in Paris next Friday, it’s a good opportunity to cut his head.
And I swear that I am not Marie-Antoinette!
Sofian: good thing you aren’t, or it would be your head that would drop by rights :)
Just got on national news, here at my country. See how blogs make a diference. :D
Yay to that, viva Portugal: Now on to le Monde and the New York Times, citoyens!
Honourable?
Honour and I are just friends! You have no proof of anything!
Many thanks for the list. Though I abstain from the strike in the belief that someone needs to be covering the news of this, I support the general principles that la révolution fights for. Allons, allons! Courage, mon braves! Équipez la barricade!
By the way, Rheta, put me down for the Bishop. If I recall the cast correctly, Gwyneth would be better cut out for Enjolras, the organizer and commander at the barricade. As for the music, that is simple:
Rheta, you can count me among the striking blogs, for what it’s worth. Luckily on April 14 I just posted my first long article in a month, so I now have nothing more to say anyway.
I’m generally ready to join in just about any protest, because I’m persuaded beforehand that they’re all justified. Janis Joplin: “I just cheats ’em like I want to, honey – I never cheats ’em like I should.”
Really we should just all go on using the term Second Life as usual, which is what I’m doing. Can you see them kicking us all off of the grid, lol?
@Harper: Enjolras came to my mind first indeed, but that was where M. Hugo and M. Delacroix crashed un tantinet, as we say, and I had to deviate somewhat from the novel’s cast of characters :)
@Danton: I have added you to the list of blogs on strike. Ta for the support!
the blog Portucalis is also on strike :DDD
other portuguese blogs SL related on strike:
http://portucalis.wordpress.com/
http://www.slportugal.com/
http://www.pt-code.com/
R:
I have been called many things in my life, but leguminous is a first! lol – yeah, I had to look it up….
Thanks for the list!
All the Best – Banana
@Banana: you’re welcome :)
@Summer, @M2life: ta for the pointers, I have added them. I must say I am astounded by the Portuguese SL blogosphere. Wow.
M2, I gave all the links to Rheta, but they are a lot! :D
I guess a lot of people are amazed of the number of Portuguese that joined.
@Cat: that Is something I won’t bet against for sure :D
We’re nothing but a bunch of “leftists” (portuguese, I mean lol!) :p
Rheta: In you text the URL for the blog Portucalis is wrong. The correct URL is: http://portucalis.wordpress.pt
@Miguel: Yikes, commies on my blog? Ah, er, welcome, comrade :)
@M2life: Amended, that was a mixup of two blogs in fact. Though the Portucalis link is http://portucalis.wordpress.com, actually, from outside Portugal at least.
Remember, Rheta, we’re from Second Life. What’s a little thing like gender assignment (grin)? Or even species assignment??
Tiny Dancing has weighed in! Well maybe it’s not so much of a weigh-in as a cop-out. Or a fairy tale. I prefer to think of it as meta-journalism, investigative reporting for the virtual age!
http://kanomi.blogspot.com/2008/04/aprs-moi-le-dluge.html
I would never scab! “In Praise of Folly” walks the virtual picket line.
I’m in. http://ccslfashionista.blogspot.com/2008/04/blogger-strike-against-lls-trademark.html
@Forelle, @CronoCloud: welcome atop the barricade – grab a costume and a gun
@Kanomi: cute and funny, I enjoyed that :D. [adopts gruff voice:] But now you stop fooling around and join us rightaway, you hear me, missy?
@Harper: ah well, but Enjolras simply would never have bared his bosom :)
I am not on strike – but that’s just because I hardly write anything anyway. So it doesn’t make a difference… but I have refrained from mentioning ‘them’ and ’their world’ and I am not planning to change that soon.
Laetizia: thanks for another great contribution to our growing stock of rousing songs and poems. By the by, blogging frequency has nothing to do whatsoever with going on strike or not (I wouldn’t be on strike either if it had, believe me) – it’s the gesture that counts. Come on, comrade, join us and let us all fight for a better tomorrow :)
hmm… I tried to post just now but Wordpress wouldn’t let me. Have you been pulling strings there? ;-)
I’ve been infuriated by the Lab in the past (we had Broadly Offensive and the removal of a statue from Burning Life, for example, and we still have age verification…) and didn’t go on strike. So to go on strike now would be a bit lopsided. I am not infuriated – I am amazed.
Laetizia: sure thing, I have been throwing my weight around Automattic to make sure no scabs get through ;)
reporting for strike duty sah!
http://caterin.wordpress.com/
It looks like the revolt was done only by us Portuguese :) well done “malta”
All I can say to that, Rheta, is you got me with my prim pants down.
Quoting from Victor Hugo and Cam Mackintosh is one thing; but if someone starts up on Marxist polemics, I’m calling the ghost of J. Edgar Hoover (grin).
Best, all. If there’s a press release, funnel it to me.
Late to get here but I am not blogging.
@Caterin: grab a gun and get atop that barricade, private, you’re on flag guarding duty!
@Nuno: indeed :)
@Harper: Edgar J. Hoover? Good idea, I’m sure he can tell us how to dig out enough dirt on the commanders of the approaching columns of King Philip’s army to avoid battle altogether. Get him here by all means!
(me as Eponine…?)
Ana: tragically torn, ultimately heroic figure – hey, I could have saddled you with Cosette ;)
I’m not blogging
You mat saw i’m a dreamer…but i not the only one! (John Lennon)
Sure thing Rheta, I have all the right fashionista riot gear!
Salut Rheta.
Thanks to ‘Liberté’ Manifesto and Petition, the portuguese bloggers naturally expressed their opinions…
Should I understand it as ‘regional’ revolution from ‘The West Coast of Europe’? ;-)
note. I’m this ‘no name’ guy from ‘discursos do outro mundo’…
would have pix with boobies to illustrate a SL strike.. Whoot!
Not blogging in solidarity with my fellow bloggers…..
…../me whispers ’and I have writer’s block lately’ shhhhh
@PalUP: amended the listing so you show up by name. Vive les riverains de l’Atlantique, eh?
@Josh: now that is what I call fine art appreciation :)
@Joonie: hush on the writer’s block, call it a strike for the time being ;)
Am I exaggerating, when I suggest this song:
There’s blood on your new foreign shrubs, Squire Linden
There’s blood on your pointer’s cold feet
There’s blood on the game that you sell Squire Linden
And there’s blood on the game that you eat
You have sold out the labouring man, Squire Linden
The Bad Squire – by Chumbawamba
Hey there Rheta and fellow strikers!!
I would like to give a big thumbs up and “hoooo!!!” to our fellow bloggers in Portugal!
I am also not posting for the duration: http://secondeffects.com a.k.a. Second Effects.
@Vint: seeing the results you’re not. I wish the light mood in which it the song was suggested could carry on, but now that the Lindens have not only flashed their guns, but clearly stated they intend to use them, protest takes a more somber tone.
@Eladrienne: it’s Hoo™ :)
I’m not so courageous… I pretty much do everything I get told to do in a blog post… if there’s a picture of boobies to lead things off…
JC
Not sure I should mention it. It’s kinda the “elephant man in the room” so to speak… but, what exactly was this “strike” supposed to accomplish… and did it do it?
Well, Josh… it was meant to make the Linden stop ignoring the protest against their new trademark policy, and get them to pedal back on some aspects. You could say the results are a mixed blessing. Notice us, yes, they did that, but their reaction was to line up the cannons in front of the barricade.
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