Some day, I swear I’ll be caught on my reviewing.
Regina brings her famous apples to Emma.
I’m really digging this show. I love-love when you can find out information about how the baddie became just so damn evil. I like that already in the second episode we’re exploring a character who came off as wholly unsympathetic in the first episode. Continue reading
And the last of my True Blood reviews for Season 4 that I did pre-GeekGirlCon.
For some reason, I thought this season had more episodes than 12. Huh.
Pretty much after he's won the award for the best boyfriend in the world, you know Jesus is doomed.
Marnie apparently hates kisses from Jesus. How sad it that? Also doesn’t Jesus notice something’s up when Lafayette isn’t be all chatty? Yeah, PTSD, blah, blah, blah. But seriously. Also Jesus is giving a massage when he had to cut his arm open, doesn’t that hurt?
Good to know that Sookie still thinks of her grandma sometimes. You’d hope they’d be better memories. Oh, Tara, that was a good comment about Gran. But it is nice for Tara and Sookie to have a conversation like they’re friends who actually care about each other. Awe. Continue reading
I wrote this review before GeekGirlCon, and then I got a little distracted.
Holly and Sookie have their 'and then shit gets serious' faces on. Even Sookie's bosoms are helping illustrate.
I love Jessica comparing silvering herself to PMS and Pam talking about how she has a manicure at 4. Continue reading
Emma makes a wish on her birthday. What she doesn't know is that if you wish upon a star...
There are very few new shows that pinged my radar as one to watch, and Once Upon a Time was one of those shows. I like urban fantasies (see Lost Girl, Angel, Fables, and to some extent Doctor Who), and I was interested to see Ginnifer Goodwin again on my screen. Plus, Jane Espeson is one of the writers. (If you haven’t seen Espenson’s webseries Husbands, you should.)
For the first part of the “Pilot,” I was rolling along with the story. Emma’s character didn’t quite grab me. Though I liked the twist on how we thought she was on a date — due in large part to the copious advertising of the show, we viewers assume she’s a princess — and how we were expecting her to say she’s looking for her prince. Continue reading
Superhero Cosplay Parade. Photo by Karl Palutke.
When I first saw the “article” about cosplay from Men’s Fitness, I shrugged it off as immature linkbait.1 It wasn’t worth my time to argue with a troll, and I’m sure as hell not linking back to it. (Which is what the author, Jordan Burchette, wants.)
Then I thought for a second and went, great, now next time we bring up a systemic oppression in geekdom (as geekdom is part of society), male geeks with +20 privilege are going to bring this article up and say they are oppressed by society. (First rule of talking about oppressive systems, check your privilege at the door. Second rule, don’t derail. Third rule, don’t compare oppressions in a hierarchy of oppression; it’s all bad.)2
But because I spend my time around wonderful people who try to find the teaching and learning moment in everything, I instead did my best Wesley Wyndam-Pryce3 impersonation and said, “Eureka!”
Men’s Fitness actually illustrates beautifully why sexism hurts men too.
Burchette spends most of his time making snarky comments, not perpetuating ridiculous beauty ideals for women, but mocking male cosplayers who lack the same idealized male bodies as Thor, Batman, or Captain America.4 Unrealistic ideals found in the pages of Men’s Fitness. Burchette says that there’s something innately missing in these cosplayers that causes them to dare to dress up their less-than-perfect-by-Men’s-Fitness-standards bodies like comic book characters. No one will argue that spandex — superhero fabric du jour — shows everything and that many male superhero costumes are cut to show off uber muscled bodies.5
The problem, however, is not the cosplayers or even the fabric choices. The problem is the beauty ideals perpetrated by sexism and put in the media.
Surprise! Men’s Fitness is the media, and a magazine that sets Western body ideals. Men’s Fitness literally has the power to change these stereotypes and male beauty myths. But they aren’t, because they make money off telling men (and women) that their bodies are not perfect enough. Why would you buy Men’s Fitness unless you somehow felt bad about your body?6 At least this is the misguided logic used in editorial and advertising decisions.
Ridiculous men’s beauty standards are just as dangerous as ridiculous women’s beauty standards. They hurt people.7 They promote ridged gender coding and make unhealthy and unrealistic expectations for how people are supposed to look and act. Born out of sexism, these male stereotypes have progressed and grown right along female stereotypes, and they hurt individuals and society.
Male geeks with +20 privilege are right; they are being bullied by Men’s Fitness. The way to stop it isn’t just to call out the author or the article, but to call out media, like Men’s Fitness, every single time they pull this false beauty ideals out, even when it doesn’t directly affect geeky male cosplayers. Because in the end, unrealistic beauty stereotypes affect everyone.
P.S. Yes, I am a cosplayer. But you can make fun of me all you want about that.
Me talking at the Women Running Geeky Businesses Panel
I am pretty much beyond biased about how awesome GeekGirlCon was. Along with my staff, I’d worked since August 2010 to make the dream of GeekGirlCon a reality, and I believe that it truly happened. I fought back happy tears all weekend; only to finally cry Sunday evening after reading what Greg Rucka wrote in my Batwoman trade. (Don’t worry, at that point, I was surrounded by people who care and love me and hugged me.)
I still am beyond the moon at how many people showed up. (A rough estimation of 2000 per day.) I can’t believe we sold out. I am still so touched by all the smiles, all the packed panels, all the cosplay, and all the new friends made.
Being the woman in charge is a weird role because in many ways I did not have an actual “job” at the convention. I had a few things I had fixed on my schedule — set-up, meet King 5 news, go to the PR event, host the masquerade with Julia, moderate the Geeky Business Panel, give a ‘thank you’ at the Labyrinth showing, and tear-down — but mostly, I wandered around fixing things. My staff is really awesome, so it was less fixing and more lending a hand, making a decision, or sending someone on a mission.
That said, you know what sucks about being president, I missed all the really awesome panels I wanted to see and I missed meeting many people I wanted to reconnect with or meet for the first time.
Photos:
Some of my favorite things:
– My mom came to help me out, and I really enjoyed the look on her face (she worked registration) when she realized just how long the registration line was before the doors opened. It was also fun to see her get that proud mom glow when people complimented GeekGirlCon and my work.
– Crossplaying as Sherlock with my lovely Watson. And having lifelong friends not recognize me in costume, not to mention a few GeekGirlCon staff doing a double-take. (I think my mom was a little freaked out.)
– Tiny crossplaying Jack Harkness posing in front of the TARDIS, while mostly annoyed at her blue tooth as her guardian took photos. (I still have blue paint under my fingernails from finishing the inside of the TARDIS the Wednesday before.)
– Getting to play with Tammy’s amazing Jareth the Goblin King from Labyrinth puppet, hearing Karen Prell talk, and listening the audience get excited every time David Bowie’s area flashed on screen.
– Being dressed up as Wonder Woman while Trina Robbins told me about the Wonder Woman lunchbox from the ’80s she’d found at a thrift shop recently. (Also having multiple friends tell me how they just wanted to have tea with Trina.)
– Chatting with Chase Masterson, who’s all around amazing. I’ve been a die-hard Trekkie since I was 4-years-old.
– Watching an entire audience sing along with Molly Lewis’ song about wanting to have Stephen Fry’s babies literally.
– Getting to finally meet panelist Karen Burrows, whom I’ve known online since 2003. Plus, getting to reconnect with my long-time fangirl friends who live in different parts of the country/in Canada/in England, including Erin, Tania, Bridget (and her partner Joe), Jen, Matt, Anna, Katelyn, Bill, and Lisa.
– Being able to provide people with an experience of a lifetime, and geeky women a safe space to geek out all weekend long.
Some things that did not go as smoothly as I’d hoped:
– I forgot the masquerade prizes in my kitchen. Seriously, they were sitting between my cast iron pan and fruit basket. Plus, I’d sent my partner Jason to search for them at the info booth, and he missed the masquerade completely.
– Registration lines were a little longer than needed to be. Plus, some vendors, panelists, and sponsors waited when they shouldn’t have. (You might’ve seen me walking the line and calling out for them.) I’m just so freaking glad that Seattle had awesome weather.
– Not having transport for people with disabilities or tiny children to get to and from the two locations. I’m not quite sure what could’ve been done, but I’m sure there were some kind of option.
– While this was a known issue before the con started, having to tell a nursing mother that the only available private space was a bathroom. (Why aren’t there more convention having spaces in Seattle with more rooms?)
– Not getting to reconnect with/meet the following people properly: the women from Hello Earth Productions, Jen Van Meter, Sarah Kuhn, Anita Sarkeesian (with whom I had an awesome post-con lunch, book shopping, and ice cream fun time with), and everyone else I didn’t get to say hi to.
Random things you might not know about GeekGirlCon and me:
– 100% of our staff are volunteers. All money made by GeekGirlCon goes directly back into the organization.
– As much as I hated charging for some events, the only way we were able to have a masquerade was by throwing a separately ticketed burlesque show. We also worked in partnership with the EMP to do part of the convention there, including bringing Jane Espenson.
– I’m a completely crazy person, who spent the month prior to GeekGirlCon interviewing for a new job (see GeekGirlCon being a volunteer gig), getting said new job, giving notice and training former coworkers, and, oh, yeah, planning for GeekGirlCon. (I started my new job yesterday.)
– My awesome staff is already emailing me, ready for the next steps. So I’m off to answer some emails that need my attention.
Check out the news story King 5 did about GeekGirlCon:
Ice Cream? Check. Vodka? Check. And a tranquilizer... Just another Saturday night with the sidekicks.
Vodka and a large animal tranq dart sounds like a good night, Kenzie and Hale. Also Kenzie forgot the Mr. Darcy movies. Bo is one determined lady.
Mirror, mirror on the wall. We're awesome women with a plan.
Let me guess, Porcupine Lady is a desperate woman in love. Continue reading
Lost Girl stars these two lovely women, Bo and Kenzie. They are awesomesauce.
Lost Girl is an urban fantasy detective show about a succubus Bo and her human sidekick and best friend Kenzie. Together, they solve supernatural mysteries and crimes. And sometimes they call in the help of two police detectives, Dyson a werewolf and Hale a siren; a human doctor Lauren who studies and works for the fae; and Trick, a very old and powerful fae who owns a bar that looks like it would fit in a Tolkien novel. The show aired its first season in Canada, which is why you probably haven’t heard of it. But SyFy picked it up and is supposed to start airing season one and the new season soon.
To me, Lost Girl is the show someone wrote for me. I love it. You should watch it, and then come back to read this review when you’ve watch the first episode of season two.
Who you gonna call? Lost Girl. (Not a very catchy tagline there, Kenzie and Bo.)
Oh, yeah, first episode opens with some Ghostbusters action. Though bad lighting. Really bad lightening. Continue reading
Note: This episode was reviewed before 4×11 so no spoilers beyond this one…
Sookie: just realizing now how horrid her sweatshirt is.
Oh, Nan knocking down the cameras and that woman speaker saying “we’re you’re friends.” Also Nan stabbing the vampire with a pencil. Win. Continue reading
Note: I reviewed all these episodes as they aired, just didn’t, you know, get screencaps or post them…
Wow, looking old there, Bill.
Alcide, on the other hand, just looks like he's hurting himself thinking.
I thought for sure it was Debbie knocking Sookie from Alcide’s arms. Nope, Bill, rushing her to her couch. Continue reading
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Erica McGillivray is snarky feminist geek, president of GeekGirlCon, & a community attaché specializing in SEO & social media.
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