- The Chicago Tribune reviewed the play Badfic Love. “Here’s what works: all of the fanfic scenes with Connor Konz as Harry and Jake Szczepaniak as a delightfully dumb Draco. You root for these crazy kids, despite the (intentionally) terrible dialogue they’re saddled with. It’s legitimately funny stuff, mostly thanks to Szczepaniak, who gets the most out every slyly stupid line he’s given…The story’s creator is winningly played by Cristiana Barbatelli as a confident upstart who can’t fully hide her insecurities. The pair meet under false pretenses and fall for each other, and this is where playwright Pasen folds in some noted jabs at the stale, unrealistic conventions of romantic comedy.”
- The BBC reported on a 5 year plan to mark the bicentenaries of the births of the Bronte siblings. In addition to touring exhibitions, a knitted Jane Eyre, and a collection of short stories, “[t]he society said its president Bonnie Greer was ‘developing an award named after Patrick Bronte”…and was also working on an initiative with Bradford Council to commemorate Branwell Bronte. The playwright was also making a short promotional film with the museum to ‘invite people to come to Haworth during the bicentenary celebrations’ and planning a ‘Jane Eyre fan fiction” workshop in London.”
- Forbes covered the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim and attempted to predict the future of its fandom. “Even in a fantasy universe, the lines between fact and fiction are hotly disputed. That’s a good thing. A year ago, Disney decreed that much of the so-called Star Wars expanded universe was, in essence, fan fiction…That didn’t sit well with some die-hard fans, many of whom had become pseudo-history professors of the deepest reaches of Star Wars mythology…Yet even on Wookieepedia, the site home to over 120,000 pages of fan-generated content—much of it concerning storylines now relegated to Legends status—the response hasn’t been negative, at least in terms of engagement. Says Brandon Rhea, a full-time community manager at Wikia, Wookieepedia’s parent company: ‘The pageviews in general shot up.’”
- CBC News took note of the reaction to actor Jonathan Crombie’s death. “Plenty of women who were in their adolescence during the late 1980’s have indeed been mourning the loss of the handsome man who portrayed Gilbert Blythe on screen — but they’re far from alone. It would appear as though, just like the wider Anne of Green Gables franchise, Crombie has continued to rack up new fans from all over the world since the final film aired on CBC TV in 2000…Here are just a few of the ways that fans have been paid tribute to Anne Shirley’s ‘perfect boyfriend’ on Tumblr, on their own blogs and through romantic fan fiction over the years.”
What different kinds of fandom celebration have you seen? Write about them in Fanlore! Contributions are welcome from all fans.
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