When Defective Geeks was created it was so that there would be a voice for geek girls. All of us here are life long lady geeks and we wanted to discuss the geek world from a perspective that is often underrepresented: a girl’s perspective. We want to be a safe place for girls everywhere to come and voice their opinions and never feel alienated, belittled, or mocked. Ever.

I am writing this right now because of the controversy over the Fanfic Theatre panel at WonderCon. It pains me so much that people think we were trying to alienate and make fun of a group of people that are so important to us and that we like to consider ourselves proud members of. We are so sorry, so incredibly sorry to everyone out there who was offended. We never want to hurt you and for those of you whose feelings we have hurt we cannot apologize enough. You are the people we care about the most and one of the main reasons why we created this site.

I will no longer be participating in this panel at WonderCon and after seeing people’s concerns over the nature of the panel there are some things I wanted to clarify. Yes, we had author’s consent for every story we were going to present, absolutely. The point of the panel itself was never to mock the institution of fan fiction and especially not the people who write fan fiction. We wanted to present stories about our favorite fictional characters written in situations that were not canon, but something that we thought other fans would appreciate and hopefully enjoy. I had in fact written some of the stories myself.  We wanted to create an atmosphere that was fun for fans, not cruel. We even hoped that maybe it would spur people on to seek out reading and even write their own fan fiction. We never ever want to bully people who write fan fiction.

I have been reading fan fiction for years and I also have a fanfiction.net account for stories I have written. It is an incredible outlet for creativity and I love seeing what other people have created with some of my favorite characters. Fan fiction is so much fun! We love that it exists and it is one of the most marvelous aspects of fandom. Fan fiction, fan art, and cosplay are all incredible and beautiful sources of passion that we appreciate and part of what makes being in a fandom so marvelous.

When Chris Gore approached me about this panel it was with the intention of being a celebration of fan fiction, not a mockery and especially not mean spirited. We did not want to make fun of fan fiction itself and especially not the people who create fan fiction. On our site we have always tried to show that geek girls come in all shapes in sizes and from all walks of life and Chris has always helped us celebrate this.

Once again we want to apologize to those who have been offended and whose feelings we have hurt. I remember being a young girl attached to her computer and escaping to the world of Lord of the Rings fan fiction (Aragorn and OC pairings were my favorite) and finding it to be a sanctuary. As an adult I still do this and am so grateful for its existence.

I would like to apologize again. The damage has been done and cannot be undone, but we hope that you can forgive us. The last thing we would ever want to do is belittle fangirls, something we try to do constantly on our site is support the geek girl community and give fangirls legitimacy. We love and care about all of you and we will fight for you until our last breath.

Yes, we love all of you.

To that young girl out there who wants to be an author and is writing fan fiction to practice her craft, we love you.

To the girl who feels that fandom is the only place where she feels at home and understood, we love you.

Please keep writing and never EVER let anyone bring you down. We love you and hope you can forgive us.

UPDATE: I have just been informed that the panel has been canceled at WonderCon which I agree is for the best. Apologies again.

When the Space Pirate Queen asked me if I was interested in watching and reviewing a movie starring Nicolas Cage that took place during the Crusades my response was somewhere in the “Oh Hellz Yes” category. That movie, kids, is Outcast.

This movie is without a doubt entertaining and not just because Nicolas Cage has a British accent in it. Outcast is the story of warrior Jacob (Hayden Christensen) who years after the Crusades is in “The Far East” and he helps a young prince and princess escape from their evil warlord brother, Shing, who is on a mission to have them killed so that he may be the next Emperor. Jacob is haunted by his time in the Crusades and is also an opium addict, so he’s a lot of fun to be around, but he’s also an excellent warrior. The movie shows their journey which is certainly bumpy and includes deception, betrayal, and redemption.

I have to say that I was kind of rooting for Shing during the movie. I mean, I would be pissed too if my dad made me become a warrior and then specifically bypassed the throne to my younger brother because I was a warrior and the next Emperor supposedly ought to be a peaceful man. That’s a Catch 22 if there ever was one, so poor Shing. Sure, he can be a little bloodthirsty, but he spent his entire life defending the very country he was supposed to rule one day! Screw his old man! You do you, Shing, you do you.

Ah yes, it’s time for another round of Defective Geek’s Great Halloween Movies! This time I’m going to gush about the ever so entertaining and delightful Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

Just as much as I enjoy scary supernatural thrillers that often cause me to sleep with the lights on and send midnight texts to very irritated friends (you guys know you still love me), I also enjoy supernatural flicks that are simply fun. Elvira is most certainly one of the fun ones.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark stars, well, Elvira! Now, you young people out there may not know who Elvira is. I think my generation was the last one to grow up watching her on TV hosting some of the most deliciously awful scary films out there. That’s who she was, my young readers. She was a hilarious TV personality who had my dream job: to watch and make fun of terrible films. She got so popular that she got to be in a movie about the crazy shenanigans that happen to her.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark is about Elvira getting tired of her TV gig and wanting to move onto bigger and better things… which is a show in Vegas. In order to fund her Vegas show she needs to sell her mysterious late Aunt Morgana’s house which winds up getting her into loads of trouble with the prudish townsfolk. Her evil Uncle Talbot plots against her because it turns out Elvira is descended from powerful witches and it is up to her to save the world from her evil uncle! Eeek!

For those of you looking forward to the upcoming show Gracepoint, you are in for a real treat. I had the pleasure of conducting a phone interview with Alisen Down who stars in the show as the character Kathy Eaton. Alisen was kind enough to take the time to chat with us and talk not only about her character on Gracepoint, but also about breaking away from feminine stereotypes, her love for writing, and her passion for helping endangered elephants. Guys, she’s pretty cool. She also loves Batman, so I might be a little biased.

Check out the interview to learn more about this wonderful actress!

Tell me about your character Kathy on the show Gracepoint.

Kathy is the editor of the local newspaper and I kind of see her as the cautious editor of the newspaper. She’s sort of the voice of Gracepoint. She’s very strong, very smart, and not to be underestimated, but also very kind. I admire her quite a bit as a person, actually.

What has been your favorite thing so far about being on the show?

Many things, really. From the very beginning when they aged me up to play her to meeting Anna Gun and David Tennant and Jackie Weaver and all these amazing actors to working with all the producers who have been so fabulous and working with such well written material. The entire show was a gift.

This year we were lucky enough to conduct a video interview with Dennis Calero and Todd Stashwick, the creative team responsible for the awesome web comic/graphic novel The Devil Inside. The bad news is that our audio committed suicide half way through the video interview. OH NOEZ!

Yes, we are very professional and you should let us interview you.

Luckily my brain is ever so slightly larger than the size of a walnut, so I remember a lot of what they said during the interview that you may not be able to make out from the audio.

Here is some supplemental content to the video interview (Author’s Note: This is a summary and is not word for word what Dennis and Todd said):

How have the characters evolved over time?

He started off as a man with an idea of who he wants to be, and over time he has grown more of a conscience. Also he is not what you typically picture when you think of “the Devil”. He does not have a red cape with a pitchfork and it is not necessarily his intention to bring the evil out of others, despite the fact that it happens. In this story it is more humanity that causes the problems than the Devil, so it’s the evil of others that surrounds him more than the evil of being the Devil. In fact, its also a Pinnocchio story. He over time wants to become a “real boy”, or in this case more like a human being. On the back of the book it even says, “Evil is not a force, it is a choice.” He, the Devil, wants and has that choice to not be evil anymore.

It’s hard to not enjoy an interview when you get to nerd out over both The Maltese Falcon and The Mighty Ducks with the person you’re interviewing. This time around I got to chat with actor, writer, and director Mark O’Brien who will be appearing in the sixth and final season of Republic of Doyle and the short film Dennis. In this interview Mark talks about what inspired him to become an actor, what it’s like going from acting to directing, what his dream role is, and what superpower he would choose. For the record, he was a lot of fun to chat with and has pretty much earned my eternal loyalty because he ended our phone interview with, “Go, Ducks, Go!” You read that right, my friends.

Check out the interview to learn more about this hilarious and multi-talented guy!

What inspired you to become an actor?

I have always loved movies so much, particularly when I was twelve or thirteen and I was able to recognize a good performance. I didn’t just see it as entertainment, I could finally see the craft behind it. To tell you the truth it was Edward Norton in Primal Fear which he was so good in that it was the first time that I noticed in a performance in a movie. I watched what he was doing and thought, “Oh my god, that is so cool.” I think it was somewhere around there that I started making films with my buddies and started to appreciate it a bit more and it just went from there.

I agree with you, Primal Fear and Edward Norton’s performance in it is amazing.

Oh my god, yes. It literally changed my life. Fight Club and a lot of his stuff had a big effect on me.

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing actress Amanda Grace Cooper who stars in the horror comedy All Cheerleaders Die which you can go see in theaters now! In this interview Amanda talks about her role Hanna in the movie, what it was like having to deal with all that icky fake blood, what inspired her to become an actor, and her personal passions like writing vegan cookbook for kids. She was very sweet and a lot of fun to chat with (and we also got to bond over knitting). Check out the interview to learn more about her!

What inspired you to become an actor?

Well both of my parents are set decorators. My dad worked on the set of the soap opera The Young and the Restless for years and my mom did as well. When I was younger I would literally just walk the sound stages and I’d watch the actors. When I was three or four I just thought the actors were playing around and having fun and that’s ultimately what I wanted to do! I got involved with dancing and just performing competitively and then when I was seven or eight years old I literally turned to my parents and said, “Look, I want to be an actor. This is what I want to do.” Then they enrolled me in acting class. It all started there.

Tell me about your role Hanna in All Cheerleaders Die.

It’s kind of interesting because I actually came in to read for the role of Leena which I was not right for and they envisioned me as Hanna. Hanna is an average teenager who is just trying to fit in and she’s constantly rejected and the only people who take her in are the cheerleaders on the cheerleading squad because her sister happens to be on of the head cheerleaders. They put Hanna in the mascot outfit as a form of acceptance, although the joke is on Hanna because nobody else would want to do that. She falls into this love triangle between her sister and her sister’s boyfriend because she is deeply in love with him.

This year I finally had an excuse to really gussy myself up like a classy mythical broad. I was invited to cover the third annual MYTH Masquerade Ball on May 24th, 2014 at the Los Angeles Theatre in Downtown LA.

Pssst, that’s me in the middle! I bought a wig and took any opportunity to creep on people dressed up as mermaids. I’m not sure if you can tell from my costume, but I was a “Sea Nymph”. As hard as I worked on my costume, it didn’t compare to the glorious outfits people sported at the event. Check out the pictures below to see the marvelous attendees!