All posts tagged: Fandom

San Diego Mosque Killings Were Mass Murder as Fandom

San Diego Mosque Killings Were Mass Murder as Fandom

The two teenagers who walked into a San Diego mosque with assault rifles on Monday evening wore patches displaying the Black Sun—a neo-Nazi iteration of the swastika—and had scribbled white-supremacist symbols in white correction fluid on their guns. They started shooting, killing three. Then they fled in a BMW one had stolen from his mother. In the car, 17-year-old Cain Clark apparently shot his accomplice, Caleb Vasquez, before shooting himself in the head. We know much of this, in graphic detail, because, within hours, Clark and Vasquez’s video-recorded rampage seems to have been posted on the messaging platform Discord, then on a website called Watch People Die. The tragedy at the Islamic Center of San Diego in many ways followed an all-too-common script. With horrifying regularity, a young man carries out a mass shooting with weapons bearing neo-Nazi or hateful references scrawled in white. The shooter typically wears paraphernalia designed to promote accelerationism: the concept that only the collapse of society can usher in an Aryan utopia. There may also be a manifesto pulling from …

Tiffany’s “Pop Life” blends Beatles fandom with comfort food nostalgia

Tiffany’s “Pop Life” blends Beatles fandom with comfort food nostalgia

Pop singing sensation Tiffany joined host Kenneth Womack to talk about combining her passions for music and cooking to enrich her career and much more on “Everything Fab Four,” a podcast co-produced by me and Womack (a music scholar who also writes about pop music for Salon) and distributed by Salon. Born Tiffany Renee Darwish (and known professionally as Tiffany), the singer is most recognized for her ‘80s covers of two ‘60s hits: Tommy James and the Shondells’ “I Think We’re Alone Now” (which was recently introduced to a new generation of fans thanks to “Stranger Things”) and of course, The Beatles’ “I Saw [Him] Standing There.” As Tiffany told Womack, “I’m a Beatles fan. They were played in my house as a kid.” Her parents had a huge record collection, and her “dad loved The Beatles and Buddy Holly; mom loved Elvis.” She said she was “a dancer from the age of two” and was “constantly singing” – so much so that family members would often send her off to get cookies to be …

Why Fandom Discourse Feels Extra Cringe Right Now

Why Fandom Discourse Feels Extra Cringe Right Now

In late November, Emily did something she hadn’t in a very long time: she got back on Tumblr and started discussing fandom. Specifically, Heated Rivalry, the surprise Crave smash hit series about a love story between two closeted hockey players, based on a queer hockey romance series that itself started out, in part, as gay Marvel fanfiction. In the early 2010s, Emily, who requested that only her first name be used due to fears over harassment, had been a huge Tumblr user. She went from Gossip Girl fandom to Glee fandom to Sherlock fandom to bandom (an umbrella term for fans of pop punk bands) to hockey. But by the end of the decade, she, like many other ardent users of peak Tumblr, had largely migrated to Twitter. “I was in my early twenties, I was trying to move to a new city, I tried to be more of an adult about things,” Emily tells WIRED. She left fandom spaces. Then, Heated Rivalry happened, and Tumblr exploded. “Old friends that I hadn’t spoken to in …

This Massive Fandom is Screaming About a Major Reveal

This Massive Fandom is Screaming About a Major Reveal

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The Next ACOTAR Books Have Release Dates What’s that distant screaming, you ask? Don’t worry, it’s just the elated cries of BookTok. Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series sells like hot cakes and boasts a massive and dedicated fandom, and Maas gifted that fandom the release dates for the next two ACOTAR books during her appearance on the latest episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. The sixth book is out this year on October 27th, so brace your feed, and readers won’t have to wait long after devouring that book because the next will be released January 12th. If you’re wondering why this news is so big, the last book in the ACOTAR series was released in 2021, and if you know anything about romantasy, it’s that its readers are insatiable. The presale …

The ‘Heated Rivalry’ Fandom Is Tearing Itself Apart

The ‘Heated Rivalry’ Fandom Is Tearing Itself Apart

When Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie and François Arnaud stepped out at a Grammys after-party together on February 2, X account Connor Storrie Updates waited to post about it. Starring in a bona fide global phenomenon has catapulted the show’s cast into overnight superstardom and countless accounts on X and Instagram track every appearance, interview, and career move. Storrie and Arnaud’s rumored relationship has been the talk of social media and gossip rags for the past month, with thousands of tweets analyzing their recent outing at Paris fashion week. When Gina and Anna woke up the morning after the Grammys, and saw that the photos of Storrie and Arnaud arriving at the party were from a paparazzi agency, they decided not to share until more official photos were uploaded. The two friends who run Connor Storrie Updates, Gina and Anna, have a rulebook for how they share content with their nearly 85,000 followers on X. “We don’t like to post anything without knowing where it came from,” read the guidelines, which aren’t public but were shared …

Is Sports Fandom Play? | Psychology Today

Is Sports Fandom Play? | Psychology Today

In this playoff season, I try to shut my eyes to products featured in commercial time-outs. You’ve seen them? The cryptic medicines to treat unspecified ailments? The pickup trucks and beer brands that signal ruggedness and romantic success. Or more tempting, the gooey-delectable double-cheese-pepperoni pizzas with yet more cheese stuffed in the crust. But one other caught my ear for novel English usage. Namely, the new infinitive “to fan.” To Fan The 2025 “Fan Like a Pro” campaign advertises official items that help followers to properly “fan.” Jerseys sewn with star players’ numbers, of course; naturally, also team-themed beanies and hats, and jackets with logos. These wearables mean to demonstrate allegiance and passion. The sense of belonging and shared aspiration fuel fandom. Making it clear that fandom goes two ways, however, one sports-celebrity endorser observes: “the fans are really part of the lineup.” That is a bit of magical thinking. Fans’ cheers and jeers will make it hard for opposing linemen to hear signals, inviting a “false start” that penalizes the opponent 5 yards. But …