Various and Sundry

Recommended Reading: The Battle for Cheerleaders’ Souls -er- Sequins

I’m always interested in learning about a particular business industry’s ecosystem. How do some businesses become the major player? How do they fall? How do new companies displace them? So with that in mind, take a look at Leigh Buchanan’s piece in Inc. on Rebel Athletic and the surprisingly pitched battle in the cheerleader apparel industry. Put another way: Come for the glitter, stay for the reflections on what makes a “Challenger Brand.”

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Various and Sundry

Recommended Reading: Building a franchise for forever

I didn’t get to read this sprawling, thoughtful article by Adam Rogers that appeared in Wired until now. So, it’s possible that you’ve already read it. However, for those of you interested in the film industry, how this storytelling trend is impacting the industry (“…the auteur gives way to the team player”), or just Star Wars, give yourself an uninterrupted chunk of time to dive in. Even as we speak, multiple futures (and pasts) are being written

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Various and Sundry

Star Trek Fans: A New Hope?

This is the fourth entry in a surprisingly long series of posts about Star Trek’s future and its fandom called Crisis of Infinite Star Treks. “A new hope?!?,” you Trek partisans cry. Yes, I went there. But stay with me, because although the tomfoolery (Garth-foolery?) of the Axanar lawsuit continues, CBS went ahead and announced the showrunner for their new Star Trek TV series: Bryan Fuller. Yes, someone who has both written for Star Trek and led…

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Various and Sundry

Ray Harryhausen: Cinematic Force of Stop-Action Nature

Moving from last week’s discussion of television to a discussion of film, this week’s recommended reading goes more to the previous week’s thoughts on fannish nostalgia. Ray Harryhausen appears to be one of those objects permanently stuck in the amber of my nostalgia. I go back and watch the films with some regularity. Lord knows many aren’t good… and yet Ray’s stop-action creatures remain extraordinary. They are alive and vital and imperfect in a way that awakens…

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