I think that all writing is useful for honing writing skills. I think you get better as a writer by writing, and whether that means that you’re writing a singularly deep and moving novel about the pain or pleasure of modern existence or you’re writing Smeagol-Gollum slash you’re still putting one damn word after another and learning as a writer.

(I just made [Smeagol-Gollum romance fiction] up. I imagine it would go something like: - Neal Gaiman, when asked whether fanfiction is useful for honing writing skills. Left, a picture of the author with Cthulhu on his head.

To read how it would go something like, click on.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts has been in the news a lot lately and the news hasn’t been good. Their BioWare division has been receiving a lot of flack about the ending of Mass Effect 3 (causing them to create a whole new ending for the fans who complained) and the company as a whole has had to defend itself against thousands of letters complaining about same sex relationships in their games. Now, British actor Stephen Fry has taken it upon himself to not only give a huge vote of confidence to EA, but also promote All Out’s campaign to help them combat the letters with a petition. Hit the jump for what he had to say. 

Hey, want to hear the most amazing announcement in the world? A real, live sequel to Dumb and Dumber is officially going to happen. No, not some uninvited “prequel” with people who have no business being in a Dumb and Dumber movie. (Except maybe Cheri Oteri.) But an actual follow-up with the original actors playing the original parts, taking place the correct amount of years since we first met them, returning to the moviegoing public like the salmon of Capistrano.

This fellow here, who gives his name, when the officers finally ask and realize that they can’t just keep calling him Batman, as Lenny, was pulled over on Route 29 in Maryland two weeks ago, for driving without visible license plates. Turned out, he had all the right registration and the plates were in the car (having been temporarily replaced with Bat-symbols), and, with good humor, the officers let him off with a warning and let him get on his way to the Georgetown University Hospital to visit sick kids. And while the video served to amused a great deal of the internet, the Washington Post’s Michael S. Rosenwald happens to know Lenny personally, and managed to get the normally publicity-adverse Batman-impersonator to open up.

Back in 2006, former Marine Cpl. Megan Leavey was serving in Ramadi, Iraq when she was injured by a blast from an improvised explosive device. By her side was a military work dog, a German shepherd named Rex, with whom Leavey had formed a true bond. Such dogs don’t actually have owners, and Leavey soon filed for the right to adopt Rex. Letters were written to high-ranking officers, a petition circulated the nation, and now Leavey will be able to bring Rex home with her.

After an honorable career as a military dog, Rex had reached the ripe old dog age of 10 years old. Because he could no longer serve, there were plans to put Rex to sleep. But Leavey, who worked with Rex to search for IEDs before one of them injured her, didn’t want to see that happen. She felt that the dog deserved to live out the rest of his days in a loving home, and who better to spend it with than a fellow soldier?

And the really crazy thing is, they’re rooting for different teams.

(via Sportsgrid.)

Imagine, for a moment, that you’re about to get married to your beloved. The wedding is six weeks away and as far as you know, the company planning your wedding has everything ready to roll by the special date. But instead of being as enthused and ready as you are, they go out of business instead. And keep all that money to paid them, despite not providing the services they promised. What does one do? Well, if you have a Twitter account, you tell your followers about it on Twitter (while also probably bawling in private). And if you have amazing followers on Twitter, they will pitch in to make sure your wedding goes off without a hitch, even get it some celebrity attention. This is what happened to Lauren and Dan Welch. Get ready for your feel-good story of the day!

Tumblr users: Imagine how much time you spend on the site, scrolling through a variety of pictures, quotes, gifs, text, etc. usually for your own daily enjoyment. Now, imagine you’re a teenager, or maybe just feeling insecure, and maybe some nasty person called you “fat.” Or “gross.” Or even say you should “kill yourself.” And you go home to find your refuge, Tumblr, with its cat pictures, movie stills … and some blogs espousing the perks of being anorexic or cutting yourself. Sites like that are all over the internet, but soon, they’ll be gone from Tumblr. Because they will be banned, sparing some of its more vulnerable users to material that could drive them to hurt themselves.

You may remember The Muppets director James Bobin notoriously spoke the words,”No, the Muppets are not communist,” in response to a flashy Fox News piece saying the film was part of an anti-corporate message from “liberal Hollywood using class-warfare to brainwash our kids.” Well a wonderful video turned up today. Speaking during a UK press conference following the London Premiere of their film, Kermit and Miss Piggy fired back with classic Muppet wit and sarcasm. Game. Set. Match.

(via Uproxx)

We know, we know. We keep covering the Arrested Development movie as if we don’t know it’s definitely going to happen, even though we know that it is, along with a new series that will be streamed exclusively on Netflix. (It is Definitely Happening in 2013.) However, we like to make sure that all of our ducks are in a row. In this case, the cast and original writing staff. Good news: all those ducks have signed on to write the new series and screenplay. They even have an office and parking spaces!