Seth tends to be a pretty outspoken guy — and has become even more so as of late. He seems pretty serious about this, but would it work? I don’t suppose there’s any way to get the Roddenberry estate to team up with Seth for more of the above.  Like on a regular basis. Once a week maybe?

“I don’t know who would give me the keys to that car,” MacFarlane laughs, referring to Paramount’s possible lack of interest in bringing back Trek to the TV screen. “But I’d love to see that franchise revived for television in the way that it was in the 1990s: very thoughtful, smartly written stories that transcend the science fiction audience.”

In other sh*tty movie news, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo has officially exited the remake of the 1994 Brandon Lee film The Crow, making it perhaps the most abandoned big screen comic book adaptation since Brad Pitt, Keanu and pretty much everyone else bolted from Akira. This might have something to do with the fact that the studio canned writer Nick Cave (yes, that Nick Cave) even though he wrote the amazing genre-defying Western pic The Proposition, and would probably be perfect for bringing The Skull Cowboy and Eric Draven back to the big screen? I’m just speculating, but when Stephen Norrington leaves a film because of the script, it’s probably because it’s not retarded enough for him.

Finally, rumors have been surfacing whether Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow appearance in The Dark Knight was really a fitting end for one of Batman’s greatest enemies (which was basically an effeminately bat-gloved wrist slap.) The answer is probably no, as various eyewitness accounts refer to Murphy showing up on set. Fortunately the BBC’s Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo bullied him into giving all but a confirmation. Say what you will about Murphy’s acting ability, he doesn’t have much of a poker face in the studio.

And for a refresher, the ‘torture Carmine Falcone’ scene from Batman Begins:

(via Niki Stephens at joblo and comic book movie)

Words by Jeff Nau

She is certainly not the first to make the connection between geeks and kink, nor does that connection seem to be without merit. Indeed, it seems that the more into Klingon weaponry you are, the more likely it is that you attend the Folsom Street Fair every year. Like Wonder Woman comics? You may also a submissive man who enjoys bondage. The same people that go to San Diego Comic Con are often the same people that go to Shibaricon. But why? Are geeks kinkier than most people? Or are they just more honest about it?

First things first. I’m a firm believer that kink exists on a spectrum. From light spanking and binding your partner with scarves to heavy spanking with specially-purchased implements and elaborate suspension scenes, it all counts. It’s just a matter of where you are, where you’re partner is, and what you’re both comfortable with. So when I use the word “kink,” it’s with that in mind. That said, geeks seem to be more comfortable about expressing their kinks than their “mundane” vanilla or secretly-kinky brethren. This may be because they’re already comfortable expressing their interest in other fringe topics like sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, and horror. Once you’re comfortable enough in your skin to own being a geek, why not be honest about other things? I reached out to several geeks of my acquaintance – some well-known in geek circles, some “civilian” geeks – to get their take on things.

Cunning Minx is a polyamorous kink activist who spreads love and important, practical information both through myriad speaking engagements and on her podcast, Polyamory Weekly. She’s also a hardcore geek with a penchant for steampunk fashion and a Whedon obsession. If you offered her an evening featuring spanking and a Battlestar Galactica marathon, she’d be the happiest clam. When I asked her why there seems to be a correlation between geeks and kink, she said:

“Geeks and kink go hand in hand because they are both exploring alternative subcultures and realities. Once the geek has questioned and rejected parts of mainstream culture in, say, a science-fiction universe, it’s pretty easy to embrace kink as an alternative means to satisfaction as well. Once one begins to question why things are, a plethora of alternative subcultures become easy to accept.”

So, one point for it being more likely that geeks are kinky. However, some geeks want to make it clear that spandex costumes do not equal an interest in kink in one’s personal life.

Amber Love is a popular comics commentator, cosplayer, and model. Her love of comic books knows no bounds, and the range of costumes she’s explored over the years is astonishing. Much of her modeling is adult-oriented, and she certainly understands the connection between the geeky and the sexy. However, she chafes at blanket assumptions about people’s personal lives based on their interests. “I don’t think all geeks and kink go together. I think it’s an assumption that is made, and I say this based on the years of comments and feedback [I’ve gotten] regarding my own costuming and modeling. There is a general assumption that because I love dressing in spandex for fun that I bring costuming into my sexual activities and I don’t. I’m an adult model with costumes because I like both activities and was happy to find a way to combine them.”

Dina Kampmeyer, who blogs about geek dating as Lady Steamy at the League of Extraordinary Ladies blog, agrees that “not every geek out there is any more kinky than the average person,” but brings up the fact that many geeks find kink because they’ve had time to think about and explore sex in a way that more mainstream people just don’t.

“I think there are many reasons, but I will quote one of my favorite movies, Revenge of the Nerds, and answer, ‘Cause all Jocks ever think about is sports, all we ever think about is sex. But seriously, I think a lot of geeks are late bloomers and [have had] many years to think about sex and can develop some non-mainstream urges. Geeks often watch a lot of science fiction and fantasy, which opens our minds to some different and unusual ideas in general. Geeks tend to be more open to new things and perhaps we are not more kinky in our basic natures, but just more willing to embrace this aspect of ourselves.”

There’s a surprising number of women in this article, aren’t there? Uh-huh. Let’s hear from some geek boys, shall we? Douglas Sharpe, who has a love of comics and D&D (Dungeons and Dragons, naturally!), thinks that “geeks are just more comfortable about themselves. A lot of us don’t care if you aren’t into what we are into. So some of us are more comfortable displaying a kinky thing. All the people I’ve seen whipped were at Cons. But I don’t really go to non-geek parties anymore so I couldn’t tell you what the ‘mundanes’ do in their private lives.”

Moving from geeks themselves to geek entertainment, there are many examples of kink and alternative sexuality all over literature, television, and film. This could either be due to the interests of their creators, or simply due to the fact that, if you’re going to be exploring worlds in which anything is possible, putting limits on the kinds of sex you portray is just plain silly.

Pendard is a sex blogger at Geeky Sex, a kink scholar, and currently at work on a book that, among other things, examines kink in New York in the 1950s. He is also a huge Star Trek fan, loves anything Whedon-related, and has a soft spot in his heart for the story of the farm boy from Tatooine. “Examples of kinky shenanigans in geek culture fall into two categories,” Pendard explains. “Things that actually show or imply kinky sex, or supposedly innocent images that have a strong kinky content.

“In the first category, one example that comes to mind is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where Worf and Dax are a happily married couple that frequently have sex so rough that it lands them in the hospital. Part of Dax’s kink apparently involves oversharing about her injuries with her best friends over a cup of joe the next morning. Star Trek could get away with showing a relationship like this because the two participants were aliens with ways different than our own. These days, you’re sure to see some kinky sex whenever vampires get in the picture — whether it’s Buffy and Spike [on Buffy the Vampire Slayer] knocking down a condemned house in the throes of passion, or Bill “bloodballing” Sookie [on True Blood]. This plays on the imagery of evil: vampires are evil, non-vanilla sex is evil, therefore it’s okay for vampires have non-vanilla sex. (“Good” vampires like Edward Cullen and Angel don’t have kinky sex — they don’t have sex at all, in fact.)

“The second category is much larger and it’s difficult to define because there’s always deniability. Tim Burton can dress Michelle Pfeiffer in a skintight black vinyl Catwoman costume [in Batman Returns] and have her wield a bull whip, and then when someone suggests that this is maybe, sort of a little bit kinky, he could say, “Get your mind out of the gutter, you sicko, that’s not what I intended at all!” if he wanted to. Even Julie Newmar as Catwoman, tying up Adam West and Burt Ward and putting them in fiendish death traps is arguably some pretty kinky imagery, even if there wasn’t anything overtly sexual going on.”

This second category of kink portrayed in geek culture gives geeks plenty to debate, particularly when it comes to female characters. For example: Wonder Woman. She is one of the most popular characters in comics, and yet there is debate as to whether she is a kink totem, whether she should be, and even who claims her as such.

Love is disturbed by the fact that Wonder Woman gets that kind of attention, because she feels it takes away from what’s really important about the character. “The sheer fact that Wonder Woman has been bastardized as the Queen of S&M because of early depictions of her being spanked has harmed not only her image but makes it challenging for any adult woman that wants to dress as her.”

However, not only does Pendard see her connection to S&M as a strength, but he disagrees that Wonder Woman being spanked or tied up is the focus of that. Rather, he sees her as a focal point for submissive men, who enjoy the fact that Wonder Woman is so often tying up male villains. “One of my favorite examples of [supposedly innocent images that have a strong kinky content] is the Golden Age Wonder Woman series, written by Wonder Woman’s creator William Marston. Marson was a polyamorist who lived in a triad with his wife and girlfriend. He was also a famous psychologist, so the imagery of bondage, dominance and submission that absolutely fill that comic book couldn’t have been accidental. I’ve always thought it was hilarious that the comic book witch hunts of the 1950s focused on supposedly gay content in Batman and Robin that was probably accidental, when all the while Marston was intentionally undermining traditional gender roles and planting very kinky images in impressionable young minds.”

So, Wonder Woman is an example of kink manifesting itself, intentionally or not, into geek culture and entertainment. Love also mentions The Twelve’s Black Widow/Claire Voyant from the J. Michael Straczynski run of The Twelve for Marvel Comics, who is known to go to S&M clubs to pick out girlfriends to dominate. Cunning Minx mentions “the boxing scene between Apollo and Starbuck in the new Battlestar Galactica. This was a great example of negotiated, physical violence being used to purge the involved parties of a host of strong emotions they had no other way to deal with. The bout was violent, emotive, moving and intensely personal–just like a good kink scene. The fact that it didn’t happen to involve nudity or sex is irrelevant; the kink was present in every punch.” Penard mentions “The scene in Casino Royale where Le Chiffre strips Bond naked, ties him to a chair and beats his nuts with a length of rope” as another example of something that may or may not have been included to appeal to a kinky geek audience. And just about everyone I spoke to mentioned True Blood as a prime source of kink for geeks who are into vampires.

Assumptions can never be made about what individual people will be interested in when it comes to their sex lives. However, if you know you enjoy kink, and want an easier time finding someone who shares your inclinations, a Comic Con or a Star Trek convention might not be a bad place to look. Even if a geek you’re talking to isn’t kinky themselves, it’s likely that they’ll be tolerant of your kink, and might even be able to point you in the direction of someone who shares it!

And now, for your enjoyment (and mine!), here are my Top 5 Kinktastic Geek Couples:

1) Lee Adama and Kara Thrace (Battlestar Galactica)

I agree with Cunning Minx in that the boxing scene from BSG is an amazing moment. Knowing their tumultuous relationship, fans of the show know that this was the only way they could really express what they mean to each other. From the way they’re throwing punches, to their whispered confessions, to the looks on the faces of their significant others, everything about this scene shows not only how kink is hot, but it can also help heal.

2) Worf and Jadzia Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

As Pendard mentioned, Worf and Dax’s relationship was rife with all sorts of violence, and what makes this couple special is how obviously and deeply they cared about each other. They fought so hard, and bruised each other so much, because it was what they each wanted and, as Dax breathlessly puts it at one point, “He always knows when to stop.” Worf meeting his match in Dax was one of the best parts of Deep Space Nine.

3) Sister Clarice Willow’s Group Marriage (Caprica)

What’s great about the portrayal of group marriage on Caprica, as opposed to on a mainstream show like Big Love, or even a sci-fi novel like Stranger in a Strange Land, is that the group marriage isn’t the result of some kind of religious indoctrination. It simply is. No dogma. No higher mission. While Clarice and Co. were definitely religious fundamentalists, their religion had nothing to do with the way they loved. When first introduced to their large family, Lacy mentions that she’s known other kids from group marriages, whereas monotheism is definitely considered cultish. On Caprica, loving more than one person is no more or less remarkable than loving someone of the opposite sex. Or loving someone of the same sex, for that matter.

4) Buffy Summers and Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

From the scene Pendard mentioned above where they had sex and literally brought the house down, to the time they had sex up against a railing at The Bronze, Buffy and Spike’s relationship always had a bit of an edge, especially sexually, that was fed by the fact that it was always just a little bit wrong. Buffy’s sex with Angel was sweet, but Buffy’s sex with Spike was hot. We won’t even talk about the boring sex she probably had with Riley.

5) Captain Jack and Ianto Jones (Torchwood)

Homosexuality aside, I was always struck by the power dynamic involved in Captain Jack and Ianto’s relationship that was very firm, but also playful. The Captain in his long coat, and the Tea Boy in his sharp suit. Their relationship always seemed a bit like flirty roleplaying, because even after they acknowledged their feelings for each other, they seemed to revel in playing their positions.

Honorable Mention:

Amy Pond and Rory Williams (Doctor Who)

It was a tiny moment, but an important one. In the episode “A Christmas Carol” Amy and Rory are on a pleasure ship returning from their honeymoon and in need of The Doctor to save the ship from being trapped in a strange, electrified cloud. When they first appear in the episode, they run out onto the bridge of the ship, Amy wearing her kiss-o-gram policewoman outfit, Rory in his Roman centurion garb. When asked why, they stutter and stammer through a response, but the implication is clear. They are a happily married couple with a really fun sex life, thankyouverymuch!

What do you think of the list? Comment below!

Words by Teresa Jusino (@TeresaJusino).

New York City geeks were recently lined up around the block for five hours in anticipation of one of Geek Culture’s patron saints. Simon Pegg, star of fan-favorite films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, the J.J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek, and the cult-hit television show, Spaced, made an appearance at the Strand Bookstore as part of his U.S. tour to promote the American release of his new book, Nerd Do Well.

The book is an entertaining and insightful read whether you’re familiar with Simon Pegg or not. Part memoir, part comedic genre fiction, Nerd Do Well chronicles Pegg’s journey from being a young boy obsessed with Star Wars and zombies to becoming a man who gets to hang out with George Romero and be introduced to George Lucas. As Pegg puts it, it’s “about the idea of an adult fulfilling his childhood passions.”

Pegg understands what it is to be a fan, having been one all his life. So, rather than have the crowd gathered at the Strand sit through a reading and risk not having the time to get their books signed, Pegg chose to skip reading and go straight to the signing, determined to give every single person the one-on-one attention they desperately craved. It’s this kind of understanding that makes Simon Pegg so beloved in the Geek Community.

I was lucky enough to be able to speak with him several days later, as he continued his book tour across the country. It wasn’t originally his intention to write a memoir at all. As I said to him, it seemed a bit soon for this kind of a book, rather like getting a Lifetime Achievement Award when you still have so much left to do, but his original plan was to do a book about film, or even a work of genre fiction. It wasn’t until he met with his editor that he was convinced that it would be worth it to write something a bit more personal.

“Richard E Grant wrote a wonderful book called With Nails, which is all about his first five or six films in quite detail and talks about the story of making them and what was going on, and I thought that could be worth doing, because it felt more work-related,” Pegg says. “But I found that [I] couldn’t get excited about talking about work – as much as I love my job – it felt like something that would be boring to read.” He began to see that there were many parallels between his childhood and his adulthood that he thought would be more fun, both to read and to relate. “And I had to then get over the fact that I would be sharing – I’ve always been a very private person, I try to keep my private life out of my work – and this would necessitate me actually talking about my private life. So I wrestled with that for a while, and came to the conclusion that…this is the kind of stuff that I would share with friends down at the pub, and it was also coming straight from me, and not being filtered through anybody. So after going through that whole thought process (laughs) I finally thought OK, I’ll write the memoir.”

After writing the book, Pegg thought it important to get in contact with the people he mentions in it, to get their blessing. That, in itself, proved to be its own journey. “In some instances I found odd moments of closure where I didn’t realize I needed it or even wanted it,” he says. “And [I] also found an excuse to talk to people that I missed, whose company I’d fallen away from just through distance and time.” He even got in touch with Mrs. Taylor, one of the English teachers he mentions warmly in the book: “She’d written a comment after one of my projects about ‘Perhaps you can do this when you’re published’ and then to sort of, twenty-five or thirty years later to be able to say, ‘Well, now I am published, and here it is! And here’s your comment!’ That was a nice sort of circularity.”

As kind and thoughtful as Pegg was on the phone, there was also a seriousness about him that seems a bit surprising at first, until you put it in the context of his real-life close friendship with actor, Nick Frost, which has been immortalized in a fictionalized version in the projects they’ve done together. He’s the one who could stand to let go a bit more (like Nick Angel in Hot Fuzz) and Frost is the one who teaches him how to do that (like Danny in the same film). Their friendship, as well as the bromance in all its incarnations is a large focus of Nerd Do Well.

In fact, there are a several humorous as well as not-so-nice incidents in Pegg’s life that have involved other boys and men by whose inclusion I was surprised. It isn’t many actors of a certain caliber who openly discuss, for example, the times that they kissed male friends in a group for a laugh, or the times they briefly wondered if they were gay; but he believes such hesitance is unnecessary if one is secure in who they are. To Pegg, it’s just not that big of a deal.

When I asked him why he chose to include those anecdotes, he says, “I just wanted to be honest, really. My agenda wasn’t anything more than just telling it how it is, and everything else be damned. I don’t care what people think about me in that respect, I have nothing to hide. And I’m sure there were things there that lots and lots of people can relate to. Nowadays, particularly in light of my screen relationship with Nick Frost, there are guys being a lot more open about being friends and not being worried about… I mean, guys who worry about people thinking they’re gay are probably gay, and that’s the root of their insecurities, when it’s actually fine to give your mate a hug. It doesn’t matter, you know? And also there are things that a) they’re quite amusing, and b) they fed into my emotional growth, which is part of the book in a way. So, no, I didn’t worry about that at all.”

He tends not to talk about his baby daughter much, given his desire for privacy, but I asked him how he feels about the current Geek Girl movement as the father to a future geek girl. “I think it’s great,” he says. “It’s another moment of empowerment. Just as we’ve gotten to a point where guys can talk about the things they love without being ashamed of it, then women are feeling the same thing. And it’s great, because it’s creating a new layer of female geek output, you know? There are new characters, and new types of genre fiction that are tailored specifically for and created by women and that can only be a good thing. Cause guys can get a kick out of, you know “They’re here now! They’re here!” (laughs) Men can enjoy that, too! I love the rise of the Nerd Girl.”

Simon Pegg is a talented and funny actor/writer who is comfortable enough in his own skin to not be threatened by bromance or girls and women in the geeky clubhouse, and Nerd Do Well is a funny, entertaining, and honest read from one of geekdom’s greatest heroes. It’s available now from Gotham/Penguin wherever books are sold!

Words and photos by Teresa Jusino.

If you haven’t been watching Awkward Embraces, you’ve been missing out on one of the best shows to come along in any medium. Yeah, you heard me. It’s that good, and that funny. Awkward Embraces tells the story of three friends – Jessica, Candis, and Lyndsey – and their dating misadventures. It’s a simple concept, but what makes the webseries special is not only the incredible chemistry between the three leads and the sharp writing, but the fact that the lead character is an honest representation of a geek girl.

Awkward, but charming; naive about relationships, but willing to learn; beautiful with a real body, not the anorexic “beauty” too often favored in Hollywood; Jessica is a joy to watch because she feels like a real person. She also feels like a real female geek, dropping Star Trek references as easily as she breathes; feeling the desperate need to explain why her Star Wars t-shirt is funny even when it’s clear the person she’s speaking to won’t get it, or care. When I saw the episode where Jessica loses herself in talking about “Darmok,” her favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, I squealed loudly thinking, “That’s my favorite episode, too!!” What every woman I’ve introduced to Awkward Embraces, geek or not, has said to me after watching is “Oh my God! This sounds like me and my friends!”

The Awkward Embraces Season 2 party at Celebrity Vault in Los Angeles gathered some of the creme de la geek: Alexis Cruz (Skaara in Stargate), Robin Thorsen (Clara of The Guild and a guest star on an upcoming episode of Awkward Embraces!), Michelle Rodriguez (Ana Lucia on Lost) who was guest-DJing that night, as well as the Awkward Embraces leads themselves: Jessica Mills, Candis Phlegm, and Lyndsey Doolan. The event, hosted by Comikaze, was also a benefit for the charity Gamers United, which provides comics and games to children’s hospitals. The place was packed with comics professionals, webseries creators, geek writers/hosts, and even a Slave Leia – all there to support a webseries that seems to have come from nowhere to being on its way to becoming a true geek phenomenon a la The Guild! When Awkward Embraces didn’t have enough funds to finish their second season, they started an IndieGoGo campaign to raise the $10,000 they need to complete it. They’ve already exceeded their goal with two weeks to spare! Clearly, the show has passionate fans and supporters who don’t shy away from an awkward embrace.

I spoke with writer/star of Awkward Embraces, Jessica Mills, about her work, the show, diversity in the entertainment industry, and what it’s like to be geekdom’s newest heroine!

How did you come up with the idea for Awkward Embraces?

Jessica Mills: I’ve had a lot of bad dating stories – I think everyone has a lot of bad dating stories – but my thing is, rather than be upset, I would rather turn it into comedy. So I would always go to work after a horrible date and tell everybody at work and make it funny, make it a funny story. So I had this stock of funny stories. So, I wanted to do something on the web, I made a short film about the worst story, which is the donut story.  [S1, Ep4 - “The Morning After”]

So that’s a true story?

JM: Oh yeah, that’s true! I did not leave it on his doorstep. I brought the donuts back and we awkwardly ate them before never speaking again. But, you know, “things got weird” isn’t really a good way to end an episode. “And then things just petered out kind of weirdly…” [laughs]

We had so much fun shooting the donut episode that everybody was like “Let’s do more!” So, I pulled from my stock, and now I pull from other stories and things that people tell me.

So, it was originally only the episodes it takes to tell the donut story?

JM: It was originally a short film, so it was [just] the donut episode. And actually, there’s footage of the guys sitting on a couch talking. Initially it was going to be the guys talking about what happened, the girls talking about what happened, and then flashbacks to what happened. But then, once I wrote the rest of the season, I didn’t have anymore “guy perspective” stuff, so we ended up cutting that out so that it would fit more with the rest of the series.

How did you meet Lyndsey and Candis, and did you try to meet people who spell their names weird on purpose? Lyndsey with a “y”, Candis with an “i” – where did you find these people?

JM: [laughs] We went to college together! So, yeah, maybe it’s a Texan thing with the weird spellings? But all three of us are from Texas and we all went to college together.

What I love about Awkward Embraces, aside from the geekiness, is the fact that you’re all gorgeous but you all look normal. Was that a conscious thing when casting the show?

JM: That’s definitely one of my philosophies, that people don’t have to look “perfect” to be watchable. I think people want to see people who look like them, I think they’re tired of… And, you know, there’s nothing wrong with someone who’s a size 2 as long as they fit the role and do a good job in it. But I get tired of these really pretty people who aren’t very good actors who get work over and over and over. So, with my production company and what I do, one of the things I wanna do is only cast people because they fit the role, because they’re brilliantly funny, and not give a damn about…I don’t care what color you are, I don’t care what size you are, whatever. If you do a great job and you fit that role, you’re gonna have it, and people are gonna love watching you because you fit the role and you’re really good.

I wanted to talk to you about your production company [Project A Productions], because I looked at the trailer on your website, and…

JM: Oh, you were the one! [laughs]

I’m curious about Death Echoes, and about your other projects. What’s going on?

JM: Death Echoes is a feature, which requires quite a bit of money, so it’s sort of on hold. I love the script, so I definitely want to rework the script if I do [end up doing] it. It’s the first thing I ever wrote, so there’s some rough patches in there that I want to smooth out. But I would still love to do it.

Other than that, I’m developing a couple of other web series at the moment, because I just love it! When I’m stuck in traffic, all I do is think of stories I wanna tell. So, if I come up with something cool, I start to develop it, and then I’ll start to find people who might wanna work on it with me. Nothing is solid enough that I can be like “oh yes! i have this new thing that I’m gonna do!” but it’s there, in the works.

Do you consider yourself a writer? An actor? Are you a hyphenate? Or is it something you don’t even think about?

JM: No, I do. People really want me to pick. I guess, there’s a theory that you can’t be equally good at more than one thing, and that’s a fair assumption. But I do what I love, and I’m not going to stop doing what I love just because….I don’t know. It’s a very strange place for me. I was nothing but an actress for fourteen years. Then I started doing this, and suddenly I was a writer and a producer, and discovered I really love writing and I love the process of producing, but I’m still an actress. I produce things for myself to act in still! So, I don’t know what to call myself anymore. People ask me what I do, and I just say I create web content. That’s the only thing I can think of to say. That’s the easiest sort of short explanation, but I can’t pick a favorite over acting, writing, or producing. But would I produce something that I weren’t acting in? Maybe? Would I act in something I weren’t producing? Um, yeah! Would I write something that I weren’t producing or acting in? I don’t know? You know what I mean? It’s very weird. I”m having a crisis. [laughs] Not really, but… It’s true, though, because labels become so important in how to market yourself espeically here [in L.A.].

That actually leads into my next question: it seems like a lot of the popular webseries come out of L.A. Do you think there are certain advantages to being here? Do you think someone where you come from in Texas could have a webseries be as successful? How do you feel that location contributes to your success, or having access to certain things?

JM: Well there have been successful webseries out of other places. My friend in Austin sold a webseries which did fairly well and won lots of awards and stuff, so it is possible. I think as far as being here, you have access to guest stars, I guess, so that gets you a little more notoriety, a little more press…Plus, there are all these mixer events. You can go to the TubeFilter event and talk to those guys, then get written up in TubeFilter. Your ability to network and meet people and hand them your business card and then have them take a look at your show then mention your show to someone, that kind of thing? I think that helps a lot. I think it’s kind of necessary. I don’t know that I would be as successful if I had done it in Texas, because I wouldn’t have been….

Plus as far as finding people to work for free, and really talented people, this is where people go when they really wanna have a career. So it’s easy to find people who are just starting out that are really passionate, really excited. They just want a project on their resume, they just want to meet people, they just want to network, so they’ll work for free or for cheap because they’re on their way working their way up, and the work is really good! There are a lot of advantages to being here, or in New York.

What about the production end of it? Getting props for free and stuff like that?

JM: That part is actually easier elsewhere, because everybody is shooting all the time here. Plus, there’s permits and stuff like that where, if you don’t have a lot of money, you have to figure out ways around it. But if I were in Texas and I wanted to shoot on a street corner, as long as I’m not blocking traffic, nobody cares. Here, if I shoot on a street corner, they’re going to be like “Where’s your permit? Where’s your insurance?” So, producing is much easier somewhere else. Plus, when you’re not the one millionth show shooting that week, people are much more excited about “Yeah! Come to my house!” They wanna see what it’s like, and they’re cool. But here it’s like “Ugh! Really?! Another one?!” [laugh]

[Note: This interview took place 16 days into the Awkward Embraces IndieGoGo campaign. They were at $6,000 in 16 days. They are currently over their $10,000 with about 15 days left in the campaign]

How are fundraising efforts going?

JM: The IndieGoGo campaign is going phenomenally! We’re so blown away by the support for the show. We’re just so excited….yeah…I can’t even talk about it I’m so….I mean, I start to think about it and my brain just goes *beep*.

Do you think events like GeekGirlCon are necessary? [Jessica will be on a panel at GeekGirlCon this year!]

JM: I think it’s good that we’re having them for sure – like the Geek Girls Exist panel [at SDCC] last year and GeekGirlCon. We’re pushing through barriers slowly but surely, like we’re starting to have more of a voice and more of a presence to be like “We are geek consumers, too! We’re here! We’re just like everyone else!” I think it’s awesome that we’re starting to celebrate that and bring more attention to that. I think it is necessary. And I’m ready for Hollywood to portray a geek girl who doesn’t wear glasses, maybe. It all goes back to normal people. It’s OK to have normal people in entertainment!

Check out Awkward Embraces, now in its second season! Season 1 as well as the 3 current episodes of Season 2 are all available at their website! And if you’d like to help make Awkward Embraces even better, you can donate at their still-running IndieGoGo page HERE and get some sweet rewards, or donate on their website. Speaking as someone who’s tried producing a webseries before, I know how difficult it is, and how little (read: nothing) everyone is getting paid. If you want to keep quality work like this out there – out there, and not beholden to a studio that would likely change everything good about it – put your money where your browser is!

Words and pictures by Teresa Jusino.

Death is the true final frontier… in reality, there is no way to avoid it.  We’re all building up to our inevitable death scene at some point in the future.  But in the world of movies, characters can not only skirt death and return after the funeral, they can have one of the coolest and most memorable deaths ever imagined. There is no better scene than a death scene and actors often will take on a role knowing that their character will die on screen.  Sometimes a death scene is Oscar bait and sometimes it’s to get out of doing a sequel.  Harrison Ford famously wanted Han Solo to die in the “final” film in the Star Wars series, but George Lucas refused.  Too bad.  A badass like Han Solo going down would have been memorable indeed.

The Best Five…
Here’s a round up of five of the most gut-wrenching, tear-jerking, awesometacular best movie death scenes…

5. Exploding Head from Dawn of the Dead
Sure, this dope had about a half second of screen time before he was blown away and maybe it was human or zombie but we’ll never know because the officer responsible had such an itchy trigger finger.  One important fact remains: that exploding head from the original 1978 version of Dawn of the Dead changed everything.  It meant that you could show heads blowing up in movies. David Cronenberg would have never been able to make Scanners without George Romero giving this gift to the world of film and altering the course of cinematic history.

4. Spock* from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn
Not only did Spock (Leonard Nimoy) save the starship Enterprise and provide a tearful farewell, he out-acted William Shatner. (Honorable mention must go to Ricardo Montalban as Kahn… in the face of death he was bloody and hobbled yet still spitting in the face of Kirk.)
* Fortunately or unfortunately, Spock also had time to save the essence of his brain within McCoy’s gray matter hard drive so that he could return in the very next movie in which the title kind of gives everything away: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.  No one really dies in the world of science fiction.

3. Sonny Corleone from The Godfather
You would never expect a mafia crime lord like Sonny (James Caan) to go out without a fight.  And even though he was not armed, Sonny stood there and took machine gun fire like a man.  The Don would be proud.

2. Indiana Jones Three-way Tie!
Steven Spielberg films have always had particularly good death scenes with Jaws providing Quint a shocking end inside the mouth of that wretched shark.  But the trio of baddies from Raiders of the Lost Ark go out in a blaze of glory in which one melts, one bursts into flames and another explodes.  It’s extremely difficult to top a threesome ending with flaming, oozing and blowing up.

1. Taylor from Beneath the Planet of the Apes
In Beneath the Planet of the Apes, astronaut from the past Taylor (Charlton Heston) brings it to this upside down world of the apes.  Riddled with machine gun fire, Taylor gives the middle finger to the world by detonating a nuclear device that blows up the entire earth killing everyone.  And in case you didn’t catch it, the film closes with voiceover narrated by Orson Welles himself informing the audience that this world has come to an end.  Brutal.

The Worst Five…
There’s nothing worse than dying except for failing to die well.  There are no “do-overs” when it comes to death.  Here’s a round-up of five of the lamest, weakest, most disappointing, just simply the worst death scenes in movie history…

5. James T. Kirk from Star Trek: Generations
The very first film from the Next Generation Star Trek crew was supposed to be a smooth transition original series crew.  Kirk does his best to kick some ass, but is defeated by falling off some bridge or something?  Laying on the ground, Kirk utters these memorable final words, “It was fun.”  Not really.  Hey new Kirk, Chris Pine, we’re counting on you to die cooler when it’s your turn!

4. T-800 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day
After winning the day and defeating the T-1000, the T-800 version of Arnold commits suicide by lowering himself into a vat of molten metal.  And this final act of self-sacrifice is punctuated by Arnold giving a thumbs up. A thumbs up? Really? Roger Ebert must not have been pleased.

3. Leo from Titanic
Okay, it’s not that Leonardo DiCaprio’s character from Titanic dies, every man who saw that movie wanted to see him die, it’s that it happens in such an uneventful way.  Rose (Kate Winslet) wakes up to find him frozen to death.  Would it have been too much to ask to see him freeze to death in real time with a final satisfying death rattle?

2. Star Wars Three-way Tie!
Boba Fett and Yoda and the Emperor are among the most powerful characters in all of Star Wars.  And they all die in horribly disappointing ways in Return of the Jedi.  Let’s see, Boba falls into a Sarlacc pit, the Emperor is thrown down a bottomless Death Star chasm by Vader and Yoda is so old that he just fades away.  Proving that in the world of Star Wars, the cause of death is usually from old age, falling into a bottomless chasm or an explosion if you happen to be one of the nameless drones working on one of the Death Stars.  Tough break workers.

1. Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
It should not be considered a spoiler to learn that Dumbledore “dies” at the end of the latest Harry Potter movie.  (Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or not been using the internet, Dumbledore’s death was widely reported more than three years ago when the book came out.  I mean, there are Facebook groups dedicated to this.)  But it’s the way that Dumbledore meets his demise that is so disheartening… the powerful wizard is taken down with the flick of a wand.  Put up a fight next time old man!  While I have not read the books, one can suspect looking at his Lord of the Rings doppelganger Gandalf that the white bearded one will be making a return.  If there is a do-over, die better the second time.