Hot Nerd Girl

Tag: levar burton

  • 2014 Geekie Awards

    Author John Mulhall + Rock Star Blayne Alexander + Hot Nerd Girl + Geek Outlaw = Podthingy

    Author John Mulhall + Rock Star Blayne Alexander + Hot Nerd Girl + Geek Outlaw = Podthingy!

    I just had the pleasure of attending the 2nd annual Geekie Awards, an awards show for geeks by geeks founded by Kristen Nedopak and hosted by Khail Anonymous. The purpose of The Geekie Awards is to honor the nerdier parts of pop culture that are often ignored by other larger and more mainstream award shows. The categories include: Lifetime Achievement, Geek of the Year, Geek Cred, Indie Video Game, Art & Craft, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cosplay, Podcasts & Vlogs, Short Films, Websites & Blogs, Trailers & Videos, Fashion & Armor, Tabletop Games, Personality, and the big award of the night, Web Series.

    Aside from an uncomfortably hot two hours on the black carpet (seriously, despite drinking water I started seeing stars at one point and had to sit down for a few minutes before I passed out in Manu Bennett’s arms – which, in hind sight, I probably should have just rolled with) and a few technical issues with the mics, the entire experience was a joyous voyage to my happy place. I love nothing more than to talk nerd with fellow geeks and it was an entire evening of doing just that. Nerdvana indeed. I also spotted and chatted with many of the same people I see at all of the local Cons so it was a blast seeing them in a different venue. Many of them were cosplayers there to bring out the statues during the show so they were in full costume making it easy for me to identify them. They, on the other hand, often took a second before they recognized me thanks to the fact that I was decked out in a dress and high heels. VERY different from my usual attire of jeans, t-shirt, and Chucks.

    Let’s start with the aforementioned black carpet, shall we? For this I teamed up with my NerdBFF, Geek Outlaw, to tackle and talk to the various celebrities, presenters, and nominees. To watch all of the black carpet interviews and shenanigans (gods, I love that word), check out the video here:

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    Some photo highlights from the black carpet!

    Eric Won (Writer, Director, Producer) and Trip Hope (Executive Producer) of The Division, nominated for Best Web Series.

    Kaj-Erik Eriksen (See No Evil 2; The 4400) Presenter, Best Art or Craft

    Vic Mignogna (Executive Producer and star) of Star Trek Continues, nominated for Best Web Series. I had a BLAST geeking out about Star Trek with him!

    Vic Holtreman (Owner) of Screen Rant, nominated for Best Website or Blog. We had a more in-depth conversation with him at the after party about how he started the site.

    Jason Ritter (Parenthood; Gravity Falls) Presenter to LeVar Burton

    Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds; King of the Nerds) Presenter, Best Website or Blog

    Randy Couture (The Expendables 2 & 3) and Mindy Robinson (King of the Nerds) Presenters, Best Trailer or Video

    Greg Grunberg (Alias, Heroes, Masters of Sex, SocialTronLive) Presenter, Best Tabletop Game

    Amy Dallen (Host) and Jenni Powell (Producer) of Talkin’ Comics Weekly, nominated for Best Podcast or Vlog

    Lauren Bregman of Castle Corsetry, nominated for Best Fashion or Armor

    Jenny Lorenzo (Host) Aggressive Comix Presents: Geekgasm, nominated for Best Personality

    Tony Swatton (Star, Master Blacksmith) for Man at Arms, nominated for Best Web Series

    Curtis Armstrong (Revenge of the Nerds; King of the Nerds) Presenter, Best Website or Blog

    Manu Bennett (Arrow, The Hobbit trilogy, Spartacus) Presenter, Best Personality

    Bonnie Gordon and Lina Carollo (The Quest)

    Brian Bielawski, Co-Founder and Chairman of Gam3rCon

    Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy trilogy, Falling Skies) Presenter, Best Cosplay

    LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Reading Rainbow) Geek of the Year Honoree. His super cute daughter and I bonded over our mutual love of Thor and my Mjolnir earrings while her Dad was being interviewed further down the line.

    And, of course, the real star of the black carpet: The Batmobile

    Once the black carpet portion was over we were whisked inside to the press area in the mezzanine. Luckily, John and Blayne had already secured seats for us so we were right up next to the railing with a great view of the stage.

    Lifetime Achievement

    Presenter: Stan Lee

    Recipient: Gale Anne Hurd

    First up was a pre-recorded video of Stan Lee (his health seems to be a bit precarious lately but he looked great in the clip!) presenting the Lifetime Achievement Award (last year he was the first recipient) to Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, Terminator).

    Gale gave a rather lengthy but charming acceptance speak that included walking us through the definition and the history of the word “geek” and describing her childhood as a nerd before being a nerd was cool.

    Geek of the Year

    Presenter: Jason Ritter

    Recipient: LeVar Burton

    Next was the Geek of the Year presented by Jason Ritter to LeVar Burton. As a bonus, Greg Grunberg and someone from Gibson guitars, came out to present Burton with a guitar of his very own. A major highlight? When he busted out the theme song to Reading Rainbow.

    Geek Cred

    Presenter: Malik Forte

    Recipient: Oculus VR (accepted via a pre-taped video message)

    In between the categories and during what was technically the commercial breaks of the show, we were treated to some trailers and funny filmed comedy bits. One of the most entertaining of which was Barry Dragonman. A dragon who found early success on The Munsters, then got sucked into the world of partying, alcohol, and drugs, eventually going broke. He later found success again appearing in “Lizardnado” and Game of Thrones. It was a feel good story. Turns out the guy who played Barry was sitting right next to us.

    Best Video Game

    Presenters: Alison Haislip & Maude Garrett

    Nominees:
    Axle
    Outlast
    Octodad: The Dadliest Catch
    Don’t Starve
    The Banner Saga

    Winner: The Banner Saga

    Best Art or Craft

    Presenter: Kaj-Erik Eriksen & Anthony C. Ferrante

    Nominees:
    House of Darkly
    Sienna Morris
    Art of Kudaman
    Kindra Nikole Photography
    The Work of J.W. Kinsey’s Artifice

    Winner: The Work of J.W. Kinsey’s Artifice

    Best Comic or Graphic Novel

    Presenters: Jason Charles Miller & Wendy Pini

    Nominees:
    Oh, Hell
    Boston Metaphysical Society 
    The Man of Many Shades
    Wicker
    Ruin

    Winner: Oh, Hell

    Best Cosplay

    Presenter: Doug Jones

    Nominees:
    Trolloc Fist (The Wheel of Time)
    Big Daddy Bouncer(Bioshock)
    Totoro Ball Gown 
    Steampunk Rowena Ravenclaw  (Harry Potter) 
    Brienne of Tarth (Game of Thrones)

    Winner: Big Daddy Bouncer (Bioshock)

    This is the part where a baby T-Rex came out and Doug Jones had to awkwardly inform him that he’d already gotten the part in Jurassic World. Check out the clip and hilarious baby T-Rex impression HERE:

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    Some stills:

    Best Podcast or Vlog

    Presenter: Lucky Yates & Rob Paulsen

    Nominees:
    Gecken
    Talkin’ Comics Weekly
    We’re Alive – A Story of Survival
    AMC Movie Talk
    Sword and Laser

    Winner: Talkin’ Comics Weekly

    Best Short Film

    Presenters: Mark Ordesky & Jane Fleming

    Nominees:
    The Hitchhiker
    Future Hero
    Splinter Cell Extraction
    Kepler X-47
    The Field of Vision

    Winner: The Hitchhiker

    At this point the Founder of The Geekie Awards, Kristen Nedopak, came out to give her spiel.

    Best Website or Blog

    Presenters: Curtis Armstrong & Robert “Bobby” Carradine

    Nominees:
    The Escapist
    International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club
    Set to Stunning
    Screen Rant
    Geek Girl Authority

    Winner: Screen Rant

    To watch Curtis and Bobby talk about being the oldest nerds there and other funniness, check out a snippet of their interaction (including a hilarious in-character laugh from Bobby) HERE:

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    Best Trailer or Video

    Presenter: Randy Couture & Mindy Robinson

    Nominees:
    Nothing to Prove – Geek Girls & The Doubleclicks
    Wonder Woman
    Brielle and the Horror: The Graphic Novel Trailer
    The Doctor Games (Parody Trailer)
    Legends of the Knight

    Winner: Legends of the Knight

    For some reason this segued into a rather awkward bit in which the host brought Catwoman onto the stage and asked for a volunteer from the audience who would like to be whipped. I have a feeling that this looked a lot better on paper. But, hey, we’re geeks and we’re awkward, so I guess it was kind of perfect in a way.

    Best Fashion or Armor

    Presenter: Jessica Merizan & HipHop Stormtrooper

    Nominees:
    Kayla Stojek / Zombie Peepshow
    Lauren Bregman / Castle Corsetry
    John McGovern / Sharp Mountain Weather
    Catherine Kim / IAMKNIGHT
    Donna Ricci / Clockwork Couture

    Winner: Lauren Bregman / Castle Corsetry

    Best Tabletop Game

    Presenters: Greg Grunberg & Brea Grant

    Nominees:
    Little Wizards
    Forbidden Desert
    Dread Curse
    Council of Verona
    Belfort

    Winner: Belfort
    (They were a no-show so the award was accepted by Greg Grunberg, who also helpfully reminded us that this year marks the 40th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons)

    Best Personality

    Presenters: Manu Bennett (who took it upon himself to moon us…not that I’m complaining) & Olga Kay

    Nominees:
    Kim Horcher
    Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox
    Jenny Lorenzo
    Jenna Busch
    Danni Danger

    Winner: Jenny Lorenzo

    Best Web Series

    Presenters: Mychal Thompson & Meghan Camarena

    Nominees:
    Caper
    Star Trek Continues
    The Record Keeper
    The Division
    AWEme “Man at Arms”

    Winner: Star Trek Continues

    We were then treated to a performance by Songhammer before spending a few minutes hanging out at the after party where we chatted some more with Doug Jones and a few of the winners.

    All in all, a delightful experience that I very much hope to repeat next year!

    For more information about The Geekie Awards go HERE!

  • San Diego Comic Con, Part 2 – Friday Shenanigans

    I’ve been struggling to figure out how best to showcase my Comic Con shenanigans because I have over a thousand pictures taken over the course of 3 days. I did a post dedicated to the Panels and thought I might do posts dedicated to Costumes, Celebs, Exhibition Floor, etc. but no matter how I worked it, it just wasn’t coming out right. So I decided to showcase each day individually starting with Friday.

    Holy craparoni there was a ton of people. I knew there would be, and yet, nothing can prepare you for the experience the first time you go. I used to celebrate Halloween in the Castro, I know what it’s like to be surrounded by a shit ton of humans dressed in crazy costumes, but I’m also used to smaller conventions where it takes less than 45 minutes to walk from one end of the Exhibition Floor to the other.

    Craziness both outside… …and inside.

    In the past I’ve discussed my extreme shyness and social awkwardness. They go hand in hand and it’s something that I’m constantly fighting with, especially as the blog grows. This trait o’ mine can be particularly frustrating to my family and friends when they’re with me at conventions and events and are promoting me. I have a tendency to panic and retreat whenever I hear my name mentioned so by the time they turn to introduce me to someone I’m nowhere to be found. For Comic Con it was decided that they were going to liquor me up.

    I’m dead serious.

    And they came prepared. My sister-in-law, Troi, brought disposable flasks. My NBFF (Nerd Best Friend Forever), Geek Outlaw, made a delicious alcoholic concoction in his CamelBak each morning. I was ordered to sip from one of these two vessels throughout the day so that I would be less likely to panic and run. To be clear, I was never once intoxicated or even slightly buzzed, but I will admit that it took the edge off a little. A few people were even surprised when they were told how well I was doing at being social.

    Geez, I totally sound pathetic haha. The point is, it helped and I probably had my most socially successfully convention ever.

    Sippin’ on gin and juice

    I needed that little bit of liquid courage because I made buttons to hand out to the people I met. Lots and lots of gloriously nerdy buttons. Despite the liquor I was pretty shy about handing these out but there were a few times when they caught on like wildfire and I actually had a line of people waiting to dunk their hands in the giant bag of buttons. I made these in the 1.5 days between getting home from my Grandma’s funeral in Cincinnati and the first day of Comic Con so hopefully the next batch of buttons will be better.

    I was lucky enough to meet up with some friends throughout the day including one of my best buds Brett (he zombifies all my pictures for me), Aaron who I hadn’t seen in at least a couple of years, and Eddy who I hadn’t seen in 10 years.

    Brett! Aaron! Eddy! (and a seriously awesome photobomb)

    While on the Floor I headed over to the DC booth to visit Tre’ Ridings, a fabulous photographer who I met at WonderCon and have kept in touch with. If you haven’t yet, check out DC’s We Can Be Heroes campaign. While there Eddy and I got our pictures taken.

    Eddy got a bit saucy This made me LOL I stuck with good ol’ fashioned badassery Take THAT Lex Luther!

    I’m an insanely devoted Trekkie and have been collecting signatures in my TNG The Continuing Mission book for about 15 years now starting with John de Lancie. So I was super excited to see Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton at Comic Con! But super sad that I didn’t have my book on me. I got their signatures and pictures with them anyways.

    The next day I brought my book but Brent was gone. So I’ve added LeVar’s signature to the book. Hopefully Brent’s won’t be far behind!

    From top to bottom: Rod Roddenberry, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, John de Lancie, LeVar Burton

    My sister-in-law and I ran into Colin Ferguson from Eureka on our way to the Roddenberry After Party. He was super nice.

    Lou Ferrigno was huge! And also very nice.

    Todd Stashwick is officially my new favorite celebrity. I didn’t recognize him at first with his hat and glasses. He was there promoting the printed trade paperback of his online comic book The Devil Inside and we started chatting it up about all kinds of random stuff like Chicago and the Secret Service. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes into the conversation that it even came out that he was an actor (trust me, you know who he is). We ended up talking for quite a while and I left with a copy of his book and a promise that I’d return the next day to show him my Thor costume and get Dennis Calero’s signature on my book.

    Some other randomly awesome stuff from the Floor:

    KITT…

    And Michael from Knight Rider.

    Awesome Indiana Jones booth complete with live snakes.

    Optimus Prime is the shit.

    Trolls!

    Zombie mobile from The Walking Dead.

    I don’t know why but the Batpod looked kind of small to me in real life but looking at it in comparison with the people in the picture it looks like a decent size. Weird.

    Troi is obsessed with zombies.

    Who’s scruffy-looking??

    The Captain’s chair was blocked off but they let this guy take a picture in it. Love the Roddenberry folks!

    Troi got the greatest LEGO set ever for my brother and my nephew. It has working electronics. Frak, I’m jealous.

    Time for costumes!

    We were behind some Avatar: The Last Airbender fans in a panel line.

    And also ran into some Legend of Korra peeps.

    My best guess is GI Joe. Correct me if I’m wrong!

    Saw a ton of Poison Ivy’s and Harley Quinn’s per usual.

    This guy was a big hit with Troi.

    Alicia Hunt?

    A towering inferno of physical perfection.

    Awesome AT-AT.

    Remember this girl?

    Her name is Jennifer Landa and she’s super sweet and she put together another spectacular Star Wars costume, this time of the Millennium Falcon.

    Everyone needs a little bit of Tusken Raider in their life to keep them on their toes.

    This Prometheus promotion calmly and silently walked through the Exhibition Hall while his lovely ladies passed crap out.

    Best. Penguin. Ever.

    What’s up Doc?

    And a couple after my own heart.

    It’s Picard and a female Geordi! How awesome is she?!?

    At the end of the day we headed over to Fluxx for the Roddenberry Trek Nation Party. (Friendly reminder that my interview with Rod Roddenberry will be coming to you soon!) On the way there we ran into the zombie walk. Depending on how long you’ve been reading you may or may not know that zombies are my biggest fear. Needless to say, I snapped this picture and then walked very briskly to the next street over.

    Me and Mom waiting to be let in to Fluxx. Apparently I was supposed to go through the Media/VIP line. Oops. I’m still getting used to being considered Media :/

    At the club we met up with friends Joy and Darcy (yes, he’s really that tall).

    And watched a circus performer lady.

    There was a super creepy Tron dude who just stood there and never took his motorcycle helmet off.

    Hanging out with Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment. He’s super awesome.

    This was some kind of Jägermeister concoction that Geek Outlaw ordered for me.

    Whatever. It was delicious.

    Goofing off with Troi, Mama Jedi and Geek Outlaw

    We left the party at 10:00pm (around the time the geeks left and the usual clubbers started showing up) to try and get some sleep before Day 2 of the Comic Con craziness.

     Stay tuned for “Part 3 – Saturday Shenanigans” in the next couple of days!