I spent the vast majority of this past weekend in the recording studio/Therefore I Geek office prepping and recording for upcoming podcast episodes and planning out the next three or four months. One of the big projects that we are undertaking is a non-sequential series of episodes with an all geek girl cast, which is incredibly exciting, since it has been a naturally occurring phenomenon that most of our podcast guests and blog writers are male. In the course of hanging out with the group of girls that will be the guests for these podcasts, and subsequently recording with a couple of them, I found myself getting excited about and reaffirming my affection for a part of geekdom that I had slowly abandoned as I grew up and got away from it. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Geek Life
Same $%^&, Different Day
Several years ago, staff writer Joseph De Paul, better known as Dude, and I were hanging out with one of our professors when the topic of comedians came up. At the time there was a big huff about Dane Cook being accused of stealing jokes and so Dude posed the question “If Dane Cook stealing jokes is wrong, how do you justify someone like Sergio Leone basically ripping off Yojimbo to make A Fistful of Dollars?” Our professor paused for a moment and then replied, “Well, Leone is a genius, and Dane Cook [insert XXX rated act].” Dane Cook insults aside, our professor hit on something much deeper than stolen jokes: the idea that there are no new stories.
Yojimbo
Filed under Geek Life, Joseph De Paul
Editorial | Don’t be a Geek Cannibal
This past week Tumblr and Twitter burst into (yet another) uproar over cultural appropriation, specifically a Tumblr based webcomic called Mahou Shounen Breakfast Club, a comic set in Japan and based on the trials and tribulations of Japanese voice actors in Tokyo. The creators, although not Japanese, had studied the language and even lived in Japan for a while. Their Twitter commentary on the debacle indicated that they had sought input on the comic from Japanese people and had gotten positive feedback. However, after a couple of aggressive and angry comment via the Tumblr Ask feature, Toril Orlesky and Katie O’Neill, the creators, decided that they would prefer to simply cease making the webcomic rather than to “create a comic that will hurt people…” Shortly after they released a statement indicating that they would no longer be working on Mahou Shounen Breakfast Club, Orlesky and O’Neill were embroiled in a bitter contest between Twitter users who spewed vitriolic hate at them and at their creation, and users who defended the art both for art’s sake and for the sake of the medium. The full conversation, spanning dozens of users and roughly six days, is all available here.
Filed under Editorial, Geek Life, Tracy Gronewold
Editorial | Greek Mythology in Popular Culture
Several months ago, I wrote a blog post discussing the ubiquitous references to Norse mythology in modern day pop culture, but Scandinavian folklore certainly does not have the market cornered. The wise King Solomon once said, “There is nothing new under the sun,” and it certainly seems that way sometimes in media and entertainment. Tired rom-com plot lines are trotted out every year—sometimes with the same dialogue—and Adam Sandler doesn’t seem to be able to create an original story to save his life. However, Greek myths have a life all their own, and when incorporated correctly, they appeal to an ancient tradition that really enhances the story.
In comics, as with most entertainment, there are two ways to incorporate myths: either the artist can harken directly back to Greek stories by incorporating members of the pantheon directly into the cast of characters. Examples of this are Hades from the Lady Pendragon comics, various appearances of Artemis and Aphrodite in all manner of comics, or even Hercules as a member of the Marvel Avengers team. Alternatively, comic creators can sneakily refer to Greek myths or just steal inspiration without giving direct credit. A good example is in Aquaman, the not-quite-Poseidon character about whom Marvel is in the process of creating a movie.
Jason Momoa as Aquaman in the upcoming film.
Filed under Comics, Editorial, Geek Life, Movies, Television, Tracy Gronewold
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