Irene is practically family to me. We met because our boyfriends are related and since we are Filipinos, the family just tend to spend a lot of time together. It didn’t take us long to immediately become good friends since we share the same sense of humor (she’s super funny, you guys) and life sensibilities. When it comes down to it: I freakin’ love, Irene! I wanted to share her to the world because she is a badass Lady Geek. Don’t let her pretty little face fool you. I am fairly sure she won’t hesitate to kick ass if needed.

When did you realize you were a Lady Geek?

IRENE ALLADO: When I was a kid, I played with Barbies, stuffed animals, Match Boxes, Legos, scented stationeries, G.I. Joes, Nintendo and other video games. Not being able to play with other kids, I was home most of the time and being an only girl got me to make up a fantasy world with my dolls and my brother’s toys. I would also put my bed sheets and party dresses together and would imagine I was a princess, a ninja or a non-ordinary girl. I believe that was the first time I touched base with role playing.

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It’s hard to believe that White Collar is already halfway through it’s third season. I’ve been a huge fan of the series ever since the pilot, and if anyone had told me then that I’d be interviewing someone from the show, I would have laughed at them. Well, here we are, nearly two years later, and I was given the chance to talk with Tiffani Thiessen, who plays Elizabeth Burke. USA Network was kind enough to extend an invitation to join a phone-in chat — on my birthday, as it happens! — and I had the amazing opportunity to ask Tiffani some questions about her character, upcoming episodes, guest stars, and her own experience working on White Collar.

I had never interviewed anyone, let alone a well-known actress that I admire and adore, before Thursday morning. Needless to say, I was very nervous. I really didn’t need to worry, though; Tiffani was incredibly gracious and kind, and I couldn’t have asked for a nicer person to talk to. (Seriously. ♥)

In the interview, Tiffani revealed some wonderful insights into Elizabeth’s character and her relationship with Peter and Neal. She also talked about what it was like to work with certain guest stars, related some great anecdotes from set, and dropped a few tantalizing hints about future episodes.

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Nothing is cooler than a lady who draws comics and Carolyn Belefski is no doubt super cool.

She is an  artist and she runs her own empire over at Curls Studio where she publishes her own books while keeping up with a webcomic which she updates twice a week. She hits a lot of comic conventions where you can buy her artwork from her personally. She even records a podcast with her writer, Joe Carabeo. Sounds like a busy gal, right? That’s why we are happy that she sat down and answered a few questions for us!

DEFECTIVEGEEKS: Tell us what Curls Studio is about!

CAROLYN BELEFSKI: Curls Studio is all about bringing fun to the comics world. I do a webcomic called Curls which updates every Monday and Thursday at www.curls-studio.com/curls. I also work with writer Joe Carabeo to publish the comic books Kid Roxy, Black Magic Tales and The Legettes. We will be exhibiting our creations in 2011 at the upcoming Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con (August 14), Baltimore Comic-Con (August 20-21), Small Press Expo (September 10-11), Intervention (September 16-18) and I just found out the other day that I got accepted to New York Comic Con in Artist Alley (October 13-16). We hope to be able to meet you at one of our East Coast tour stops.

DG: What was the inspiration for the webcomic’s story and the art style?

BELEFSKI: I started Curls in 2002 and it was published in The Commonwealth Times student newspaper at Virginia Commonwealth University. After graduation, I published some of the college strips online and started writing and drawing more strips. I am inspired by things I see in everyday life and experiences I witness. Curls is a gal who likes excitement and gets into adventurous situations. One of her friends is a life-sized slice of toast named Toast of the Town. She also lives with a turtle who wears turtlenecks named Turtle Neck, a Siamese fighting fish who is a boxing champion named Applause, and a penguin named Pitter Patter. Some of her past adventures have included being dragged into a lake during a fishing expedition, getting lost while using a Clive Owen and Keith Urban voiced GPS, and becoming a mad scientist. The art style has changed through the years. It began with the line art being the same width, but with a heavy force-field line around the characters. Now the style has evolved to varying the line width and having a brush quality to it. Readers can see in the achieves how my art style of Curls has progressed. The current style is more loose and freeing to me now.

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Today, female nerds are lucky enough to have the internet and to have blogs, twitters, facebooks, etc. where we can voice our opinions and be heard by our community. Still, I wanted to reach out to the ladies who have made an impression on me  and specially feature them on Defective Geeks. We bring you our new feature – the Lady Geek Spotlight! Each girl we choose are given the option of either doing an interview or a guest blog for us.

I ‘met’ Stephanie through SponSIRs and right off the bat she had an incredibly positive attitude about female geeks coming together as a community and sticking with each other… I was immediately a fan. Stephanie currently lives in Los Angeles, a proud redhead, an actress and an incredible singer. Just watch the video on her website – StephanieHayslip.com – when she performed for Hollywood director, Quentin Tarantino. I love a multi-talented woman who is not afraid to show it off. She’s loud and she’s proud of it! Read our interview below and get to know this badass Lady Geek.

DEFECTIVEGEEKS: What is the origin story of your geek? When did you first know you were a geek?

STEPHANIE HAYSLIP: I think I first knew I was a geek when I was joining a “Star Trek” fan group that met at the public library by myself at the age of 9. Bajoran nose, Vulcan ears and all.  But I was the 8 year-old kid wanting to marry Edward Scissorhands long before it was popular, too…

DG: Tell us how you got into performing in broadway! Do you plan to take your career to the big (or small) screen?

HAYSLIP: Haha, not on broadway yet, but working on it! I love the stage, it’s my first and forever love, but even there my geek can’t be contained. Most drama freaks want to listen to “Les Mis,” or Patti LuPone, or Ethel Merman. I’d much rather listen to Evil Dead: The Musical, Bat Boy, or  Toxic Avenger. And don’t even get me STARTED on Carrie: The Musical, or Dance of the Vampires.  Truly, truly genius that is oh so misunderstood. As for plans to go to film or tv, this is what I have to say – I would love to be a sci-fi star. You can keep your anonymity much easier because you aren’t as well-known most of the time, and no “vanilla” TV series nor movie has ever done for me what a sci-fi/fantasy/horror series or movie has done for me. I just think that there is a level of storytelling and emotion that you can get when you move out of the normal, everyday storyline and add a touch of magic to it, whether it be aliens, ghosts, vampires or dragons.  Even little gnomes that poop chicklets.

DG: Broadway, stage… either way, we think you’re a star ;] Tell us more about these geek-musicals and where can we find them!

HAYSLIP: Oh wow! Hmm…I could end up doing my own podcast solely on geeky musicals, but no one would listen, so let me pick a few of my favs (and the ones you can actually find a recording of – “Carrie” for instance is a classic disaster that is still talked about 20 years later on Broadway, and the only recordings of it are old videos posted to YouTube and bootlegs.

Evil Dead: Hail to the King, Baby. I’ve been in love with Ash since I was knee-high to a pig’s eye and a huge fan of the movies for ages.  (A girl gets raped by a TREE.  What the fuck???)  And this musical covers both the 1st and 2nd movies of the trilogy.  If they did an Army of Darkness musical to round out the collection, I might die and go to heaven. Anyway, the tongue-in-cheek in this one is more than worthy of the cheese that is the original movies, and “Bit Part Demon” is one of the greatest moments in the show, small and memorable as it is.  There was even a “Splash Zone” in the theatre to warn people in the front that they may get slimed with blood and other viscera.  Score. RECOMMENDED LISTENING: “What the F$ck Was That?” and  “Bit Part Demon” Continue reading