sci-fi | ChinaShop

Geek In A ChinaShop Get Schooled With Geek Crash Course!

November 7, 2011 - 10:31 am

You’re a geek, and you know everything there is to know about everything that is sci-fi, fantasy, comics, or horror.

Except Doctor Who.

Never fear! Geek Crash Course is here to help brighten your geek blind spots! Love anime, but know nothing about comics? Are you a gamer who’s never read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Diana Dekajlo and Michael Nixon host a web show designed to cater to geeks looking to improve their geek cred as well as non-geeks looking to learn about all these comics, shows, and films that seem to be getting a lot of attention lately. Each episode is devoted to a single character, show, book series, film, or comic, and gives you a basic 101 lesson in what it’s all about. They introduce each topic as if the audience has never heard of it before, and explain the premise or basics of the topic, while including some insider references for fans. Since shows like Doctor Who or Star Trek, as well as long-running comic books can have such an epic history, it can be really intimidating for a first-time watcher or reader to get into them. Geek Crash Course makes these properties more accessible to someone just starting out.

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Geek Geek In a ChinaShop: Whedonistas at the Waystation!

by Teresa Jusino

March 15, 2011 - 2:32 pm

Racheline Maltese, Priscilla Spencer and I, contributors all to the anthology Whedonistas: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon and the Women Who Love Them (Mad Norwegian Press), took over the fabulous Brooklyn Waystation in NYC for a Big Damn Reading, celebrating the release of Whedonistas, which goes on sale today!

For geeks in the New York area, Brooklyn Waystation is a place you should know. It’s a steampunk bar with a TARDIS bathroom. No, really. I went to the bathroom and ended up in 17th Century France.

Kidding. About France, not about the TARDIS bathroom. That part’s true. But it’s a wonderfully designed, geek-friendly place that plays host to any number of events during the week like Steampunk Style parties, live music, variety acts… and readings like ours.

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Geek GEEK IN A CHINASHOP: May the Force Be With Katie

by Teresa Jusino

December 9, 2010 - 1:27 pm

Now, more than ever, a Geek Girl movement is thoroughly under way. Books like Chicks Dig Time Lords, panels like “Geek Girls Exist” at San Diego Comic Con, and upcoming events like Geek Girl Con in Seattle all spotlight the fact that not only do women and girls genuinely enjoy things like sci-fi and fantasy independent of the men in their lives, but that they have valuable contributions to make to the creation of sci-fi/fantasy stories, as well as to their respective fandoms.

It’s easy to dismiss such efforts as unnecessary in 2010. After all, do we really need another “Women in Sci-Fi” panel? Aren’t we past all that? Couldn’t women just be included in things where gender isn’t the primary focus? Well, no. Not yet. If you ever wonder why the current rise of the “Geek Girl” movement is so important, one only need look at stories like that of Katie, a 7 year old Star Wars fan in Illinois who was teased in school for carrying a Star Wars water bottle.

Because Star Wars is “for boys.” Apparently.

Katie’s mother, Carrie Goldman, wrote a blog for ChicagoNow about the general topic of bullying and related it specifically to the teasing Katie was getting as early as first grade. When the news of Katie being teased for her Star Wars paraphenalia hit the internet, the geeky troops were rallied and the story was spread everywhere. Soon, Katie and her mother were being interviewed on national news programs and online for outlets like The Huffington Post. #MayTheForceBeWithKatie became a popular hashtag on Twitter, and a Facebook group was started for what has become Wear Star Wars/Share Star Wars Day, which is tomorrow, December 10th!

I had the chance to speak with Ms. Goldman about being a parent to the most well-known Star Wars fan under 10, how Katie’s been doing now that she’s been adopted by the geek community, and how she hopes Katie’s story will help others.

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Fashion GEEK FASHION: Connect to your Caprican Roots!

by Teresa Jusino

November 11, 2010 - 11:42 am

It’s been over two millenia since the Colonials and the Cylons first inhabited our world, becoming the catalysts for humanity as we know it, but we continue to discover more about our past. As recently as January 2009, scientists have uncovered a lot of information about life on the colonies before the first Cylon War. In addition to the discovery of the connection between the ancient holoband and cylons as we know them, we’ve also learned a great deal about what they wore and how they lived. This week, a relic was discovered in an archeological dig in Tunisia, a briefcase that contained, among other things, a fashion magazine called Caprican Woman that was surprisingly well-preserved. The cover tells us that it is the “Tauron Issue”, and one of the photo spreads contrasts the differences in women’s fashion on Caprica and Tauron. Below, you’ll find a scan of the surviving pages of the photo spread.

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