I'm sorry, but this was just too hilarious not to pass on.

(Fun fact! Superduperficial was a raver in high school for a few years. Anyone else?)

So apparently we're not the only progressive fish in the college sea.

Question: Should we foment a rivalry? An annual debate-a-thon between our two collegiate societies? Which of us is Athens, and which is Sparta? Should we deface their blogs with quasi-racist graffiti?

...Er, sorry, that last part was just the voice of George Allen in my head. Anyway!

I notice that from a cursory glance of their website, I have absolutely no idea who's funding them. Anybody care to dig a bit and let me know?

Maybe it's just me, but I think this is getting really silly.

Let me get this straight: Stylistically, there are many similar passages, but the story itself is different?

No offense, but this is fiction we're talking about here. So fucking what?

I don't give a damn what she did or didn't copy so long as the book is good. Frankly, I don't even care if she wrote the thing - it could be done by a robot, for all I care. If the book provides me with enjoyment, it has achieved its stated objective.

Hell, what about Mash-ups? Mash-ups are where a DJ takes the background instrumentals of one song and the vocal track of another and puts them together - making a whole new song, the DJ's own work really, that is often better than either of the songs put together. Case in point: I just got a mix of Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" and Enya's "Orinoco Flow". It's great. Also, "Holiday Milkshake", a mixing of Kelis and Madonna songs of the same names, is a classic.

Do I care that the DJ wasn't the one singing the vocals or playing the instruments? Of course not.

If this Harvard girl was really only a literary DJ, good for her - whether on the dance floor or the bookshelf, those who manipulate other's work to make something new are a consumer's best friend.

This whole "I've done this style so no one else can" idea is patently anti-consumerist and pro-writer; it allows them to "stake their claim" to a style and make a name off of it, but it's not in the best interest of those of us who don't give a damn who wrote a piece of fiction, so long as it's entertaining.