Links Roundup for 2 December 2011

Here’s a roundup of stories on fans going pro that might be of interest to fans:

• The Urban Wire writes “Last year’s Anime Festival Asia (AFA) attendees may pick out some familiar faces from the I Love Anisong concert line-up – these 4 girls went from greeting customers in frilly maid outfits to performing on stage together as homegrown J-pop band Sea☆A.” The band members also revealed how fandom gave them more than a job. ““We learnt basic Japanese mainly from watching anime,” Valerie revealed. “We’ll watch the original Japanese version and pick out certain keywords that we really want to learn, then we learn according to the English translation. We’ve gotten very used to the pronunciation from that.”
• French fan Melanie D’Anna’s fan videos got the attention of House M.D. producer Greg Yaitanes who commissioned her to make some videos the producers hoped to use as DVD extras. While this did not happen for legal and budget reasons he wrote “These are exciting times. A talented fan can be recognized by the talent who makes the show and find a way for all to work together…We are across the world but have creativity as our common language.”
• Although Frederick Exley never became a football player, he did find success by writing about his fandom. This review of A Fan’s Notes quotes “According to his “fictional memoir,” Exley spent his Sundays in a murky bar watching his beloved New York Giants and their star running back/wide receiver Frank Gifford clash with opponents. He would physically act out every play while offering a frantic running commentary on the game, guzzling beers during the huddles as other patrons looked on in amazement.” Aside from the success of his memoir, Exley became the subject of two posthumous books. The review concludes “Perhaps Exley is better suited to immortality in fiction than he was to life in reality.”

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We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!