Here's a roundup of group gathering stories that might be of interest to fans:

• The Walt Disney Archives and Disney fan club D23 is putting on a show called Fanniversary. The presentaton is "a celebration of movies, TV shows, attractions, characters and all things Disney that are celebrating milestones in 2012. It’s a roughly 90-minute presentation filled with rare and never-seen-in-public clips, audio, photographs, art and more, touring the country for the first time ever." The six city tour had already sold out when it launched.
• Another fannish event in Southern California was centered on bronies, and the first ever local meeting got an extensive write-up in The Los Angeles Times. "Stephen Thomas, from Claremont, became something of a brony celebrity when he based his senior high school physics presentation on 'MLP' last year. A video shot in the classroom and posted online quickly went viral; it has racked up nearly 1 million views. Thomas, now at Cal Poly Pomona, said he’d been concerned initially about reaction from his schoolmates. 'I wondered if I’d be a laughingstock for admitting how much I liked the show,' he said. 'But people didn’t think it was silly or dumb.'" They plan to hold their first convention in November.
• Sequential Tart wrote about yet another Southern California gathering, this one academic and business oriented, Transmedia, Hollywood 3: Rethinking Creative Relations. Unfortunately, one of the panels that was perhaps of particular concern to fans, "Working on the Margins: Who Pays for Transformative Works of Art?", was rather inconclusive. "One of the audience questions posted to the question website asked the panelists to actually address the questions posed in the title of the panel. I had been enjoying the panel, but as soon as that question popped up on the screen, I reflected on it. I'm not sure that the panel addressed the question at all. They talked about their personal experiences, and Mike Farah was pinned down on a question about where Funny or Die pays for stuff, but even then the answer was not super informative. I came away from the panel wondering who indeed pays for transformative works of art and multimedia projects like those being mentioned at this conference? How do some of these people make a living? Where is the profit in things done for free and / or by the Average Joe?"
• Finally in France a conference on "La Culture du Fan Symposium" was held, which took a more fan-focused approach to some of the same issues, featuring a panel on fan-subbing, brand fans, opera fans, an examination of the term "acafan" and a panel looking at "cultural policy and copyright law in fan production...[and] how fan activity had now entered the political arena, with their practices increasingly monitored by media producers."

If you're a fan of Disney, My Little Pony, or have your own fan gathering stories, why not contribute them to Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

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!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

Here's a roundup of fan wish-fulfillment and memorial stories that might be of interest to fans:

• A post at Kotaku told the story of six-year old John Hoover, and his mother Carrie's plea to Everquest II players to help expand and decorate her cancer-stricken son's playing space. "Players working around the clock joined and power-leveled a new guild (reaching guild level 70 in, reportedly, approximately 65 hours) in order to have access to goods, housing, and amenities ready for the big day. And when it came, they turned out in force. When they were done, young John had a virtual wonderland to call his own, complete with carousel, playground, treehouse, hopscotch field, giant aquarium, menageries, gardens, pirate bed, winter wonderland, and even a rollercoaster — all donated and built, painstakingly, by a small army of decorators." In a note thanking everyone who helped in the effort, Carrie emphasized the major role that the Everquest II fan community has played in her family's life since her son's birth, and also shared YouTube videos of her son's reactions to his new playing space.
• The U.S. baseball season opened this year with the unveiling of a statue dedicated to fans in front of the Texas Rangers' stadium. More specifically, the statue honors a father who died in 2011 while trying to catch a foul ball for his son. Thousands of fans contributed to a fund for his family through various fundraisers and direct donations.
• Scottish football fans organized a memorial game on behalf of two young fans who died in the past few years. "Paul Daly is organising a four-team tournament at Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell...The tournament will feature teams from Cadzow Accies, Cadzow Accies Legends, an Accies fans' team and an Accies Legends select." The games will honor "John Paterson (18), son of well-known Hamilton Accies Football Supporters' Welfare Organisation (HAFSWO) bus convener John Paterson, [who] passed away in November 2009 while battling leukaemia [and] Stuart Whitelaw [who] died in May 2010 following a period of illness which involved the 21-year-old going through a series of strokes." Said the organizer, "I just thought this year we could maybe get ex-players involved to show the boys' families that we're very interested in keeping their spirits up and remembering their boys."

Fanlore doesn’t just preserve memories of fandoms and fan activities, but also the fans who took part in them. If someone important to you doesn’t yet have a remembrance page there, why not start one? Additions are welcome from all fans.

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!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

Here's a roundup of fannish passion stories that might be of interest to fans:

• Star Trek fan Terilynn Shull wrote about her introduction to online gaming and attributes her persistence in improving her skills to fellow fans. Though she "rarely feared letting [her] Trek-freak-flag fly," she was surprised by the reaction of non-fans to her desire to play Star Trek Online: "I experienced a bit of shock from the computer salesman, who at first thought I was buying a computer so my son could play the game. I took a bit of pride in knowing the crow he was forced to eat was caused by my clarification that middle-aged women like Star Trek, even women like me who have no children." Her new experiences weren't limited to developing "the manual dexterity to wield a console controller," as she was also encouraged to blog and invited to participate in podcasts. "Sure, I could say that I play STO for the really great Trek writing and the beautiful scenery, ships, and vistas that I've always loved from my favorite television show, but that wouldn't be the entire truth. To me STO just isn't worth playing without the wonderful, loving, and incredibly passionate STO players."
• In a post simply titled "I <3 Fandom", a blogger for xojane writes about the joy of interacting with other fans. "People in fandom truly connect with each other on a level that constantly amazes me, and it’s a connection rooted in a mutual love for creativity, and pop culture, and things that make us giddy with excitement." In addition, "People have these complex and amazing discussions in fannish spaces, and here is something else about people in my corner of fandom: They are wicked smart. I can turn to them with a question about pretty much anything and not only will someone have an answer, but someone else will have Opinions and there will be a whole complicated discussion on the subject that quickly surpasses my knowledge and leaves me reeling."
• In an opinion piece for the UK's The Independent, writer John Walsh talks about "the passion of pure fandom", which he found through David Bowie and his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. "I identified with every note of Mick Ronson's honkingly metallic guitar sound, with every weird cockney-quaver of Bowie's voice. I learned to play 'Five Years' and 'Starman' on guitar. To prepare for a talent night in the college bar, I took a girlfriend to the Oxford shops to find an outfit...I was a man possessed. I looked a fright and didn't care." Although he has since moved on, he remembers the time fondly. "It's like falling in love or living under a dictatorship in which everything the beloved leader does or says seems the actions or speeches of a genius. It makes no sense, but it means everything."
• The Fandom Post traces the rise and fall of particular fandoms with a focus on the next generation of fans. The writer talks about introducing children to popular media texts, saying "not every kid is going to be open to these things. But they can be exposed to it and it can help them discover which things they will like, as movies, TV, comics and anime all have a lot to offer...And just as I expose them to all kinds of things for entertainment, they bring me into things as well. I had missed Invader Zim the first time around but both kids are huge fans from the reruns and gobble up the merchandise. I never saw the show but it’s one that has won me over since, and it was a shared discovery. And shared discoveries are often long lasting ones."

If you're a Trek fan, play MMORPGs or if you just love fandom why not contribute to Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

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!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

Here's a roundup of stories on fandom across generations that might be of interest to fans:

• For many people fandom starts young, whether they are in a fannish family or not. Reporter Josie Loza writes about her 3-year old daughter's first fannish experience. "She’s watched and listened to the Nickelodeon preschool pop group [Fresh Beat Band] for nearly all her life." When attending her first concert of the band, "She was paralyzed. She tried to get up and dance. But she was so awestruck she just stared ahead." Many fans can probably empathize with her reaction when she took part in a meet and greet: "She buried her head in my lap. She started to cry a little; not because she was afraid. To her, these were the people who made her happy when she was sad...“They’re really here,” she mumbled. “Yes, baby. And they want to meet you.”"
• From near-toddler to well-known journalist David Brooks, fandom affects many in the same ways. He writes in The Things We Don't Choose about his attempt to switch baseball team fandoms and the importance of early fandom: "I’ve read a bunch of social science papers on the nature of sports fandom, trying to understand this attachment. They were arid and completely unhelpful. They tried to connect fandom to abstractions about identity formation, self-esteem affiliation and collective classifications. It’s probably more accurate to say that team loyalty of this sort begins with youthful enchantment...You lunged upon the team with the unreserved love that children are capable of. The team became crystallized in your mind, coated with shimmering emotional crystals that give it a sparkling beauty and vividness. And forever after you feel its attraction. Whether it’s off the menu or in the sports world, you can choose what you’ll purchase but you don’t get to choose what you like."
• Yet another journalist documented his joint fandom with his son focusing on the generational differences that revolve around media formats and levels of participation with the games: "I watch the Patriots on television with the remote in one hand and maybe a bag of chips in the other. He views them with his Droid and his laptop at his side. While I flip through the channels during commercials, he texts and Facebook chats with friends and checks NFL.com to find out if Cam Newton scored a rushing touchdown to help one of his three fantasy football teams." He continues, "My son also rarely misses a Red Sox, Celtics or Bruins game on TV, but he couldn't name any of the team's radio announcers when I asked him to do so. That's because many fans his age don't listen to the radio very often." Their use of print is also different. "For years, I subscribed to Sports Illustrated and read it cover to cover, except for the swimsuit edition, of course. My son subscribes to ESPN the Magazine, but hardly ever reads it. He ordered it so he could become an ESPN Insider on ESPN.com and read the latest sports news online. My son estimated he spends four hours most days surfing the web for sports news."

If you are a sports or music fan, why not write about it in Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

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!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.