Geekiary’s 1000th Post!

The Geekiary has been around for almost two years and today we celebrate with our 1000th post.  We’ve had dozens of guest bloggers along with our core group of writers, many of who have been with us since the first few months of this blogs creation.  We wanted our readers to have the opportunity to get to know some of our writers, what they’re passionate about, and how they came to us to celebrate this huge milestone.

This article features four of our editors: Tara, Kerry, Tricia, and Undie Girl.  It also features our graphics contributor and author, Rinenne, as well as writers: Farid, Charli, Bandit, and Erin.  Admin Angel also threw in her experience.

How did you first find The Geekiary?

Tara: I was browsing the Dragon Con tag on Tumblr and came across a post about how The Geekiary was looking for people to cover conventions. I was already attending several a year and organizing one of my own, so I sent a message and the rest is history!

Farid: I remember it clearly. I wrote a post back in October, 2013 about Teen Wolf and queer baiting and it got linked in a post Undie Girl did for The Geekiary. So, I checked the website out, saw they were looking for writers and contacted them. Have been writing for them ever since and it’s been awesome.

Tricia: I remember seeing posts about it on Tumblr.  Then I became friends with Angel and she invited me to help out.

Kerry: Someone posted a link to the article, “Baiting the Fandom That Feeds You” on tumblr. I clicked it and was so impressed by the article, I felt compelled to write a comment, which I almost never do on other websites. I was no longer working at Marvel but I was still heavily involved in fandom and was taking the time to focus on my writing. I therefore did some snooping around The Geekiary and bookmarked the About page before biting the bullet and submitting an essay on sexually violent language in the MCU, not at all sure if I would even hear back yet alone be invited to write regularly!

Rinienne: I’ve been a friend of Angel long before the Geekiary appeared. I popped on a discussion about creating a web blog for reviews and geek culture related articles and was fascinated with the idea. I’ve never considered myself bad at writing, but I’ve never thought about myself as being an especially talented writer either. Still, my skills in graphic design found some use, and I was glad to help out with the logo and banners. After several month, I had personal issues and disappeared for some time, and up to this day I struggle to find free time to write, but the Geekiary had never lost its importance to me and each time I can, I try to provide new graphics for the blog.

Charli: I first met Tara over a year ago at MonsterCon. Her friendship with my sister allowed for us to run into each other a few more times throughout the year. When she mentioned this summer that The Geekiary was in need of writers for the anime section, I was ecstatic. As a senior English major, writing experience was exactly what I wanted. The fact that I would be able to write about something I love made it even more appealing. After talking with Angel, I was fortunate enough to join this wonderful team!

Angel: I’m so happy to hear these stories about how everyone came to this website.  I started this almost two years ago with a small group of friends because we wanted a place to write about the geeky media we love from a fandom perspective.  We wanted to have a place to dissect our media critically, but still be able to squee over things as the enthusiastic fans that we are.  While I’m the only one from the original group that still writes for the site, I’m so happy to have picked up all these amazing people along the way.

Bandit: GISHWHES actually, I was on another team and in charge of their Twitter account. I saw a tweet from another team and started gif-flirting for the heck of it. From there, I got a DM from Angel and introduced myself. We starting talking and she told me about The Geekiary. A lover of all things geeky and nerdy, I couldn’t wait to sign up.

Undie Girl: I can’t really remember. It was just after I finished writing my thesis so I don’t remember much except that I was looking for stuff to do. I think it was a poll actually. The canon queer couples one. I browsed the site and thought: “yes, these are my people”. Then I talked to Angel and I was like: “I like it here, I’m gonna stay.” So I did.

Erin: It was all Angel! We kept running into each other at SDCC, and I was telling her on the last day that it was life-changing for me. I have always wanted to write TV, but writing about it is good enough for me right now. My main passion is discussion, evaluation, and recommendation, so I’m very excited to be a part of the podcast as well.

What fandoms do you tend to focus on and what do you hope to accomplish with your writing?

Tara: I’m excited that I recently added Arrow to the list of shows that I review for the website, but I’ll likely remain mostly focused on The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones/Song of Ice & Fire. I enjoy writing about them the most because I feel like there are a lot of reviews and articles about them that are seriously biased one way or the other, and I really try my best to take a more open-minded stance on them despite their extreme popularity. I’m not afraid to say when they do things wrong, but I really enjoy writing about it when they get things right.

Farid: As far as fandom goes, most of my critical articles are about Teen Wolf. There’s so much drama around it that I can’t make myself stop writing whenever something happens. I’m honest about what I write and I think it resonates with the readers as well. I also like to cover or talk about shows that have respectable LBGTQ+ representation because we all know we still need a lot of that in media.

Kerry: Most of my work at The Geekiary tends to be focused on Teen Wolf. For a long time, that was my favorite show to geek out about and I greatly enjoyed lurking through the fandom. As the show has progressed, I have noticed a distinct downturn in quality and like many others in the fandom, I was offended by the management of Teen Wolf and its actors by MTV. I’ve always been vocal, based on my own experience on the corporate side of fandom (Marvel and Disney), about respect and understanding between fandom and creators from both sides, which definitely comes across in my writing, I think. I am also a feminist and my work as Women’s and Gender Studies scholar has completely influenced my writing because I can’t not see the world through the lens of feminism and gender theory. No matter the fandom, I will always be a feminist critic first and foremost.

Charli: So far my articles have concentrated on Sword Art Online, an anime with a rather passionate fandom. In the near future, I plan to write about Fairy Tail, a lengthier anime that finally started a new season this summer. I tend to watch these shows critically, paying special attention to how the female characters are portrayed. When the main characters of an anime are developed beyond traditional archetypes and gender roles, they become multidimensional, almost real people, in spite of the fact that they are animated. That is what usually draws me into a story, whatever medium it is conveyed through.

Angel: I focus a lot on sexuality and gender across many different forms of media.  My primary interest is television, but I dip into movies and comic books on occasion too.  This site was founded by Supernatural fans, and I’m proud to do most of the writing for that fandom.  Unfortunately my reviews can come off as a bit cranky sense gender and sexuality are so important to me and that show tends to lack in those departments, but I still consider myself a fan and will be sticking with it for the foreseeable future.  I’m also a massive Marvel Cinematic Universe fangirl and keep my ear to the ground for every little bit of news that leaks.  Where’s my Black Widow film, Marvel?  Come on now.

Basically I want more women, more queer characters, and more Marvel everywhere.  All together maybe?  That’d be a dream.

Bandit: I love everything I write about: Marvel Comics, the MCU, and Supernatural mostly. I just want people to enjoy them as well. I like that I can share the things I care about with others.

Undie: I’d like to say my focus is “fandom” in general, but I’m very biased and there’s only so much time in the day so I tend to focus on whatever fandom I’m heavily involved in. Up until recently that was mostly Teen Wolf, but well we all know what happened there. So I’m kind of wading through my secondary fandom’s (MCU, Doctor Who, Supernatural, Sleepy Hollow, Arrow) at the moment to see what sticks – it’s probably going to be Marvel’s Agent Carter, I’m calling it now.

My aims include; objectifying men and feeling bad about it, defending female characters at all cost, inducting fangirls into the feminist cult, bridging the gap between fans and creators, and telling as many people as I can about how AMAZING fandom can be.

Erin: I’m a TV junkie. I love sci-fi and fantasy, and I tend to love horror films as well. I like to focus on cast chemistry a lot–to me, the more authentic the relationships come off on screen, the more success the project will have. Going further with that, my focus is on relationships, how the actors and characters interact with each other, and how those relationships are written. Those things are so blatantly obvious to me that it tends to be what I notice the most about a project. I’m also a feminist, so I like to evaluate gender roles and how they affect those onscreen relationships. I also am a little boycrazy.

What was your very first fandom?

Tara: I guess you could say that it was Star Wars, though when I first fell in love with it my only outlets were watching the movies over and over again, reading every Extended Universe novel I could get my hands on, etc. I’m certainly interested to see what happens with the online fandom when they finally start releasing the new trilogy, though!

Farid: I would say Harry Potter. I used to re-read the books over and over again, watched all the films, played all the games, and would talk about it for hours with my friends. As far as finding fandom online is concerned, I got sucked into the world because of Sterek in 2013. I got to know about the show itself, the fan-fics, and the awesome fanworks people put up on sites like Tumblr, etc. There’s so much amazing and dedicated talent out there.

Tricia: It’d have to be either Oz or The X-files.  I don’t remember which one I started watching first.  My first online fandom was House MD. It was the first fandom I made things for, the first famdom I stayed up online squeeing over, and the first famdom I made friends through.

Kerry: Very difficult to say because I have always been an obsessive and bookish nerd since I was a little girl. I would say my very first fandom was The Beatles, oddly enough. I watched and rewatched their films, listened to all their music, drew embarrassing fanart and convinced my parents to take me to Beatlefest when I was in the 2nd grade (my very first convention) where I proudly wore a John Lennon t-shirt that my mother had made for me.

My first time using the Internet for fandom, however, was when I was 11 and absolutely obsessed with Animorphs. I adored the show, read the books, and had a massive, MASSIVE crush on Tobias, played by Christopher Ralph. I had his action figure, a book about the actors of the show, and again forced my dad to drive me hours upstate to meet two of the central actors of the show in a mall somewhere. The photo of me with them as I wear my official Animorphs necklace from the official fan club, with my overbite, huge glasses, and sweatshirt with flowers on it, is a family heirloom at this point. Aside from getting newsletters in the mail, I also was active on the official Animorphs forums and constantly tried to send in questions to the author, K.A. Applegate. She never responded. Ah well.

Angel: I went to a Xena convention when I was 7 years old.  The official Xena website was the very first website I ever visited on the Internet.  I also cried when I met Lucy Lawless and continue to refer to her as Xena to this day.  But I didn’t dive into online fandom too much.  I got into Anime cosplay culture when I was in high school and that’s when the Internet really opened up to me.  I learned about online etiquette and the rules of the Internet.  I started attending conventions and trying my hand at graphic edits and fanfiction.  Then Supernatural happened and I’ve been a fandom jumper every since.  Supernatural was like a gateway drug for fandoms and continues to be a powerful influence in how I experience other fandoms online.

Bandit: It’s a toss up between Marvel Comics and Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was inducted early (I’m talking around 6 years old), and have never looked back. I’ve also been with Supernatural since the first episode, but that came later. It’s still my favourite show, though.

Undie: Star Wars was probably my first fandom, although I didn’t know what fandom was at the time. Like Tara I read ALL the Extended Universe novels, I had like 4 different copies of the movies, I had action figures, I used to dress up and it was the first website I visited. But I wasn’t really involved with others. The first fandom I was actively involved is either Harry Potter or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I can’t remember which came first but they were both around the same time. Or it might have been the Spice Girls, actually it was probably the Spice Girls.

Erin: I’ve always been a little obsessive about things that I love, but I would say my first big delve was Harry Potter. I was quite a bit older when it first hit, so I was able to get online and talk about it a lot. I was in college when the first 2 films came out, and that was kind of the peak of when the fandom was getting started. I used to write for mugglenet.com which was a lot of fun.

What’s been the most memorable article or experience you’ve had since publishing work on The Geekiary?

Tara: I think I have to give two separate answers for this one. My most memorable experience was definitely getting to be part of a press roundtable with Andrew Lincoln at Walker Stalker Con Atlanta last year. AMC is notorious for not allowing actors who are currently on The Walking Dead to give interviews, so the fact that Andrew Lincoln of all people did so was amazing. This wasn’t just the most memorable experience I’ve had while writing for The Geekiary; it’s one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had in my life.

My most memorable article was also a memorable experience, though in a very different way. This past summer I happened to be the person on hand when DashCon started to go horribly wrong. Though two of our staff members were at the convention, they mainly help manage our publicity and YouTube channel. I actually postponed my Saturday evening plans and worked closely with them to write up the article “DashCon Disaster – Welcome to Night Vale Walks Out & More”, and for the next several days my email was blowing up with pingbacks and comments. It’s by far the most ‘popular’ article I’ve written for the site so far. That, and the fact that I was so inundated with notifications about it, certainly makes it an impossible one to forget.

Farid: All the articles I wrote related to Teen Wolf showed me how passionate fandom really gets. Seeing a post initiate a conversation makes me happy as a writer.I was also very excited to interview Jennifer Lynn Warren from AHS: Coven. She was my first ever celebrity interview and it just came out of nowhere. I was also excited when my counter-piece to The Advocate’s Teen Wolf article lead to a follow-up post with Jase Peeples. I’ve also interviewed a lot of authors and am still doing so. Being a published author myself, It’s fun to ask other fellow authors about their works and hope aspiring writers can learn something from their experiences. I’m very thankful to The Geekiary for giving me such opportunities.

Kerry: I suppose I have two. I am immensely proud of my first article, “Loki and the Language of Sexual Violence in the MCU” simply because I felt this was a major issue that needed to be addressed. Loki and Marvel fangirls can be very forgiving of their favorite trickster and many were simply unaware of the dangerous implications of some of his lines. I was glad to see the response was overwhelmingly positive, aside from the occasional troll. Yet, I must admit that I considered it a momentous occasion that this article was the first time I was called a “feminazi” online. I felt like I should frame the entire comment.

Secondly, my article, “There’s Something About Stalia… That’s Problematic” is memorable to me because it has the most amount of comments out of any article I’ve ever written and I certainly never expected such a passionate response from fans. I was pleased that this article and its topic resonated with a great deal of fans of Teen Wolf and while not everyone was in agreement (as it should be), I enjoyed interacting with the readers and gaining various opinions and insights on the Stalia ship. If anything, this article proved to me that something as seemingly innocuous to mass media as a ship can deeply affect and move readers, viewers, and fans of creative works. These things are important and should not be overlooked.

Rinienne: My most memorable experience was getting a press badge for the Phoenix Comicon. I need to say, that there was nothing truly fun about it, because my entire convention experience turned into almost nothing but work and stress: I had to go to panels I wasn’t interested in and miss the one I wanted to go, I had to spend two days on my feet, recording the panels, instead of sitting in the auditory. And it is not to mention all of the work I had afterwards, converting videos, writing an article etc. Yet, the entire time during the con I felt like a boss, with this little rectangle of cardboard saying “Media” on my chest. Usually shy and socially awkward, I had no problem randomly approaching people and talking to them and it turned my experience into something incredible.

Angel: Being able to attend San Diego Comic Con as press and being granted access to both the Supernatural and Dominion press rooms was incredibly enjoyable.  Being able to attend the private NBC party and hang out with Bryan Fuller (incredibly nice man, by the way, and also incredibly tall!) was the highlight of my LIFE thus far.  Now that I’ve attended a convention as press, I don’t think I can go back to being a regular attendee.  The press rooms, the parties, the frantic writing on the shuttles back to the hotel and hasty video edits in order to get content up online before I go to sleep….  I love it all.

Bandit: NYCC hands down. I barely slept, only ate one meal a day, ran around like a crazy person, but it was one of the best experiences of my life. I met Joe Quesada (who I fangirled all over). I saw the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was hugged by loads of people that I think are awesome. I felt like I finally belonged somewhere in that giant glass nerd kingdom. It was epic.

Undie: The second article I ever wrote for The Geekairy (Has Teen Wolf Social Media Lost It’s Edge?) kind of blew up in a way I didn’t expect. That was a learning experience to say the least. It was SUPER cool to have people like Orlando Jones talking about something I wrote, but it wasn’t so fun having people say horrible things about me and sometimes to me. I’d written for bigger websites before, and experienced the joys of anonymous Internet backlash, but I hadn’t expected it from The Geekiary’s readers because you guys are fans, just like me. So that was pretty much my best and worst experience here at The Geekiary.

Fandom’s lived so long with the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ attitude, that talking about ANY aspect of fandom publically is going to inspire a certain amount of backlash. But it’s worth it because fandom can be truly magnificent and it sucks that so many people have gotten the wrong idea about it.

If you could land one celebrity interview that you haven’t interviewed yet, who would it be and why?

Tara: Well, I’ve only been lucky enough to land a couple of interviews so far, and I think it would be hard to top Andrew Lincoln. George R.R. Martin would be amazing, of course, as would Nicolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister on Game of Thrones). Martin because I’m just a big fan of A Song of Ice & Fire (much more so than I am of the show), and Coster-Waldau because Jaime is one of my favorite characters both in the books and on the series.

Farid: I would love to interview Halle Berry. She’s been my favorite actress since I can remember. I would love to sit down with her (try not get distracted by her beauty) and ask her questions about her Sci-Fi show Extant. I would also like to sit down with Jeff Davis and Greg Berlanti and have a discussion about LGBTQ+ representation in TV shows.

Kerry: Goodness! I was lucky to meet Gail Simone at San Diego Comic-Con last year and while I got the chance to get my picture with her and tell her that she was the reason I wanted to work in the comic book industry, I didn’t get to really ask her anything. I’d love to sit down and talk to her at length about her career, women in comics, and also gush about her amazing portrayal of the Question and Huntress in Justice League Unlimited. I would also love to interview Stephen King because he’s clearly a pop culture junkie (like me), a horror fan (like me), and an all-around nerd (again, like me). He’s funny and insightful and I don’t think enough people realize that about the man.

Angel: Misha Collins, please talk to me.  To be fair, I have had personal conversations with him at conventions and attended a press room where he was present (I shared his time with 6 other outlets), but I want a long drawn out one on one with him someday.  And if I could talk to his wife, Vicki Vantoch, about sexuality and geek culture my life would be complete.  She’s written a lot of books about sexuality and now that her husband has a huge following of geeky fangirls, I’m sure she’s got some opinions on this topic.  I want to know what they are.  Misha, talk to me, and bring your wife along too please.

Bandit: Yeah, this is going to be hard because I can’t pick just one. I’m going to have to say Misha Collins, Jensen Ackles, Joe Quesada, Joss Whedon, and Patrick Stewart. That pretty much covers everything fandom that I care about. I’d just want to sit down over a drink or coffee or something and talk. I like hearing people’s stories, so I’d probably only say a few words and let them go. And then there’s Christian Slater, but that’s a personal thing.

Undie: If we’re talking the realms of fantasy, then the ultimate get would be JK Rowling. But that’s a pipe dream, so other than JK my list is: Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, Tyler Hoechlin, Jane Espenson, Kristen Stewart, Julia Gillard, Jenna Malone, Lucy Liu, Adrianne Palicki, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Felicia Day, Natalie Portman, Meg Cabot, Caitlin Stasey, Shonda Rhimes, Natalie Dormer, Arden Cho, Katie McGrath, Kristen Bell, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler.

I just looked at my list and realised that one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong. Well, I think that sums me up pretty well. Anyway the reason why is pretty simple, because I want to talk to them so some of their brilliance will rub off on me. Also I think they would all have something interesting to say.

Erin: Cumberbatch. I just love him. But there are so many cool and incredible people. That’s why I love twitter because you can sometimes have little mini interviews with fun people. I would love to talk to Tatiana Maslany, Jane Espenson, Mark Gattiss, Martin Freeman, JK Rowling, Tom Hiddleston, Kate Winslet, Peter Dinklage. That’s a lot more than one, but I would treasure each and every one.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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