(Photo Credit to GuestofaGuest.com) “It’s important for me to be independent,” states blogger Tavi Gevinson from an InTouch article published November 21st 2011. Tavi, who is not even old enough to vote, runs successful fashion blogs thestylerookie.com & rookiemag.com
In exchange for following her fashion passion, Tavi has gotten to meet iconic designers like Karl Lagerfeld & Anna Wintour, as well as having been featured in publications such as Pop Magazine. Hats off, or on, to you lil Tavi!
Posted in fashion, inspiration
“And to the fans, I’ll never let you down again, I’m back -
I promise to never go back on that promise”
Eminem, “I’m Not Afraid” song lyrics
Want to win a copy of “My Date with Drew” on DVD (review of the flick from this very website HERE) and a pair of heat up comfy slippers? Go like the Fan-Culture.org Facebook page, then comment on this photo! Once the page hits 100 likes, I will choose someone from the comments to win the prize pack 
Posted in Uncategorized
(Photo credit Geekologie.com) Although I had heard about this when I watched “The People Vs. George Lucas”, a certain adventurer I do fan work for forwarded this NPR article my way about one of the few subjects covered in this documentary. Jamie Benning is part of a subculture of fans within the “Star Wars”/Lucas fan community who takes part in making fan edited documentaries, or completely fan edited films.
These fan edits, whether Benning’s or otherwise, focus on either showing what the fans would prefer to see (bye bye, Jar Jar), focusing on what the fans remember seeing (Han Solo shot first, dude), or even commentary pieces that fellow fans enjoy listening to while watching footage.
“This is a love letter,” states Benning in the NPR article on the true heartbeat of the edits. “It’s not someone repurposing a film to make a quick dollar. That’s not what it’s about.” Read more about it at the article link here.
Posted in film, inspiration
Imogen Heap DVD Photo Credit Jeremy Cowart & Andy Hau
Everyone has a top five list of favorite music artists and Imogen Heap is deservedly in mine, and in those of many others. This lady records her own vocals, makes her own beats, a majority of the time plays her own instruments until she enlists the help of her talented friends for added musical flavor, but is 100% in charge of her recording and mixing process in her own studio. As if this isn’t cool enough, her whimsical studio is within the family home she grew up in, renovated and now occupies today just outside of London.
“Everything In Between” on DVD (also available on iTunes and in PAL format), is a documentary of her creating the Grammy winning album “Ellipse”. As a visual love letter to her fans, it shows how emotionally and physically involved of a journey it was to create her music and is an intimate, funny and draining film. I’d highly suggest my readers check out this documentary, fall in love with Immi as much as she loves her fans, and be prepared for some great music!
Posted in female celebrities, film, inspiration, music
(Photo Credit from Avalanna’s Facebook page run by her family) Okay Justin, you get cool points for this. I am by no means a “Belieber”, I do not possess a single Justin Bieber song in my iTunes library and I cringe at my adult-aged friends’ obsessions with this man-boy-child. However, this recent story left me with a lot of respect for this young performer.
Avalanna, a 6 year old with a cherubic face in the photo to the left, is a cancer patient living with a rare brain tumor called AT/RT. After the lovely little lady had a “wedding” with a cardboard cut out version of Bieber at a Jimmy Fund event, a Facebook page was created to try and make this happen for real.
Read more here, which includes a video interview with Avalanna after the meeting and check out the Facebook page with more photos of the happy couple
(Photo Credit Amanda Rosenblatt) This is the story of the birth of Fan-Culture.org.
I’m the fan site runner/leader, or “fan ambassador” as I’m referred to, of Josh Gates from the Explorer’s Club and the Syfy series “Destination Truth”. I’ve been doing this for over three years and when I recently went to Los Angeles to cover an event he was doing, I was taken out to breakfast by Josh. Aside from the fact that it was a surreal moment if I looked back on when I first became his fan in 2002, he offered me a great amount of advice and suggested I make a site about a passion I have and that I can get others excited about.
To thank Josh for his guidance and to show site visitors why it’s great being his fan, here is a recent video I made of him with just some of his fans at the LATimes Travel Show 2012, plus my main fan site and DT Fan Radio programs. Cheers to you, Mr. Gates!
Posted in EXCLUSIVE, inspiration, male celebrities, television
(Photo Credit OpenMindInsertBook.Blogspot.com) While trying, and failing, to find contact information online of a certain fan I saw in a documentary, I stumbled across a book that I cannot wait to read!
“StarStruck: When a Fan Gets Close to Fame”, even after a few pages is such an honest, thorough and accurate look into the life of a fan. The author, an autograph collector himself, touches on the sociology of fanaticism and shares other fan’s stories.
This one sentence towards the start of the book resonated with me so much to the point that I immediately purchased the novel:
“The ‘I love you’ incident was the most dramatic example of my growing need to reach out to the people whose attention, it seemed, would allow me to believe that I mattered…If a Somebody paid attention to me, then wouldn’t I be a Somebody, too?”
Posted in female celebrities, inspiration, literature, male celebrities
(Photo Credit, Screencap of Travis’ film on YouTube) MTV’s “True Life” episode on fan-boys left me with me mixed feelings, to be honest. While I wish all programs about fan culture were positive, I know they also have to focus on the negative aspect IE Joy’s problematic addiction to World of Warcraft and the infamous camera shot of her gazing with dead eyes at her computer. However, I did like the stories focused on Jason, an enthusiastic Power Rangers fan, who I’ll be interviewing soon, and who can forget Travis, the horror film fan?
Here is a really good article a local paper in his vicinity did about him before his “True Life” episode aired and here is his short film “Nightmare on Trav’s Street.” I love Travis’ story because he has a very balanced life, yet he aspires for something more and uses his love of horror movies to push himself to grow past just working in a factory thinking about what could have been. I also love that he and his antagonizing brother finally get together to make this film, his family’s closeness & they’re regular trips to the comic book store. Can you feel the love?! You can buy “True Life: I’m a Fanatic” as a download on iTunes and I believe Amazon.com, too.
Posted in film, inspiration
(Photo Credit to HeraldSun.com.au) Bizarre fan story from the sports world recently. The teenage girl in this photo, a fanatic of tennis player Novak Djokovic, was attending the Australian Open final and was about to have an amazing moment. That was until the out-stretched hands of an adult interfered with it.
Young fan Melissa Cook was cheering for her favorite athlete and was elated when he began to walk over and geared up to throw her his shirt. Then, in a moment you can watch and read further about here, a grown woman nonchalantly reaches out and grabs the garment. It’s like a horrific train wreck and you can’t help but watch over and over as you grow more disgusted.
After the shirt-snatcher’s public reply to the teenager that “such is life” and she was keeping the shirt, she to no surprise experienced a backlash of supposedly horrific harassment, so she put the shirt up for auction with the proceeds going to charity. The winner of the shirt? Cook’s parents. Read more about the outcome after the first wave of backlash here. What are your thoughts?
Posted in male celebrities, negative, sports
