- The New York Daily News was one of several media outlets reviewing a book about Bob Dylan fans. “These anecdotes are juicy enough and artfully told, but they don’t get at the heart of what makes Dylan fandom different from other kinds of fandom. The Beatles, the Ramones, Neil Young and Madonna, just to name a few, have all inspired similar obsessions. Hyperactive tape trading, for one, certainly isn’t unique to Dylan fans. Just ask any Deadhead. It’s only when Kinney turns to the Dylanologists that have devoted their lives to ferreting out the meanings behind Dylan’s music and art — rather than collecting his grandmother’s candy bowls — does he get at what makes Dylan so singularly attractive, and infuriating.”
- While quite a few sites highlight fan art, Hypable’s look focused on the fan as well as the work. “I don’t think there was ever a time in my life when I didn’t spend all day watching TV. It started with Cartoon Network and as I grew up it moved on to sitcoms, crime shows, medical shows, sci-fi… I always loved making manips, I started when I was about 10 years old. I didn’t have photoshop back then so I used Paint to crop pictures and it could take a few days to crop one. Then my uncle gave me a CD with Photoshop and made my life 100 times easier and my manips 100 times better.”
- K-Drama Stars also did a fannish profile of a Nigerian fan whose homesickness was eased by fandom. “Oky thinks that American television has a lot to learn from k-dramas in terms of the way they portray romance. Less can be more when it comes to creating dramatic romantic tension. ‘They can express it more PG,’ she said…Watching the dramas made her more curious about Asian culture, which she knew little about when she first moved to America. Now, she is learning the Korean language and has plans to visit South Korea next year.”
- Club Jade looked at the history of women in Star Wars fandom. “I have been very lucky in that I did most of my fandom growing up in spaces that were heavily female, from the early ship-war days to Club Jade to the fanfic community. That’s not to say jerks don’t happen in such spaces – the Star Ladies invented Attack Pattern Clinique back in the days of AOL chat rooms for a reason – but for the most part I ‘grew up’ in fandom areas where women and their contributions were unquestioned, where the idea that Star Wars needs more women was simply a given.”
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