Welcome to This Week in Fandom, the OTW’s roundup of things which are happening! Before we start, Eurovision 2018! What did you think? Were you rooting for the winner, or was there another act that you supported? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to write about the contest on Fanlore.
Fans of Brooklyn Nine-Nine had a rollercoaster of a week. The show was cancelled by Fox on Thursday, then picked up by NBC on Friday, just 31 hours later. Vulture interviewed showrunner Dan Goor about the ordeal, and it turns out that the cast and crew had just as much of a crazy week: “It was very shocking and scary and sad. You think, Oh my god, everyone’s losing their jobs. And also, I don’t get to do this thing that I love anymore. But very quickly, we were in talks about other platforms as possible new homes.”
The show’s quick resurrection was thanks in no small part to the support of its fans, which included some high-profile people.
The Twitter response was like, “Oh, wow, people are really responding to this.” And every time I refreshed it, I was getting tens of thousands of likes, which was crazy to me! And everything Terry [Crews] and Melissa [Fumero] posted, and then all of a sudden Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sean Astin, Mark Hamill, Guillermo del Toro.
Also: since Friday night, I’m in the weirdest, best group chat with @HamillHimself @RealGDT @sethmeyers and @SeanAstin.
Thanks again #Brooklyn99!— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) May 14, 2018
Both fans and the cast are thrilled with how everything turned out: “They [the cast members] are so happy, and they are so happy to be at NBC, and they’re so happy to be together, to be doing more of the show. It’s really nice to see.”
https://ill-get-some-sleep-when-im-dead.tumblr.com/post/173902895207/nbc-owns-like-half-of-my-soul-at-this-point
Or, well, I think that one’s happy, anyway.
There’s been quite the kerfuffle in the romance novel world recently. #Cockygate is an ongoing altercation between an author named Faleena Hopkins and the wider romance community. According to Pajiba, Hopkins has been contacting authors to issue cease and desist notices for using the word “cocky” in their book titles. The whole situation is a bit too involved to talk about here, so here’s the tl;dr: Hopkins has trademarked the word “cocky” with regards to romance novels, and she’s trying to enforce that trademark, much to the annoyance and frustration of other romance writers.
Vox has also reported on the conflict, and explains that Hopkins has two trademarks on the word, one for a wordmark (a text-only image of specific style, frequently a logo), and a broader trademark for the word in romance novels in general. The Pajiba and Vox articles both speculate on whether the wordmark is valid, due to the source of the font used. The Vox article also quotes Jessie Edwards, a spokesperson for the trade association Romance Writers of America (RWA), about how the broader trademark is also likely unreasonable. The RWA has begun a petition to challenge that trademark on the grounds that, when filing for the trademark, “Ms. Hopkins didn’t provide [the Patent and Trademark Office] with details about when and how she used the title.”
But even without that argument, the trademark may be of dubious merit. The Pajiba article explains another problem thusly:
[Faleena Hopkins’] work is derivative of a popular romance trope, and works within the same parameters that many in the industry do, but she is positioning herself as wholly unique and everyone else in her path as copycats that she has a right to demand changes from.
In general, the whole thing is a flustercluck, and while this roundup isn’t commenting on who may be right or wrong, it will be interesting to see how everything shakes down.
In other news, DatingAdvice.com recently published an article about the OTW and its work, with a focus on the community and relationship-building opportunities offered both by volunteering and by being a user on an OTW site. The article quotes several OTW volunteers and users, particularly Communications staffers Claudia Rebaza and James Kruk. It’s a wonderful piece that understands the impact that fandom can have on fans’ lives: “When you share a common passion with someone else, it’s easy to build lasting friendships, and many relationships spring from fandom communities because of the inherent passion and positivity of fans.”
In addition to delving into the many projects of the OTW, the article also discusses the culture of the organization as a whole:
“It’s not easy to describe the OTW’s culture since it is ever-shifting,” [Claudia] said. “The overall personality might be enthusiastic since all of us are fans and that tends to be something fans have in common. Perhaps also a little shy? So shyly enthusiastic with strong opinions?” […]
“Our volunteer teams can be great places for building relationships with like-minded enthusiasts as well as learning new things,” Claudia said. “Sometimes people see all the things we do and assume that there’s a large paid staff behind it, but nope! We depend on our supporters to keep things running either with labor or donations.”
If you’re ever interested in working with the OTW, you can check out open positions on our volunteering page.
Lastly, singer Adele recently celebrated her 30th birthday with an epic Titanic-themed party. According to Vanity Fair, Adele has long been a Titanic fan, and this party–where she dressed like Rose–was just the latest expression of that. What do you think? Is this an enviable bash, or a tribute to a movie that’s old hat? Have your say in the comments!
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