Turning in your Geek Card

TURNING IN YOUR GEEK CARD: WHEN YOU JUST DON’T LIKE A FANDOM
By Marie Victoria Robertson

I hate the phrase “turning in your geek card” for the same reason I hate variations like “turning in your man card” and “turning in your woman card” (I was once told the latter because I couldn’t fake enthusiasm about pretty shoes.) These phrases imply that there’s a predetermined list of criteria you need to meet to deserve a label, or else you can’t legally call yourself a geek/man/woman/laser-shooting velociraptor. 

That’s complete bull, of course. A good friend of mine told me she didn’t feel like she was allowed to call herself a geek, because she only liked Archie comics and the only sci-fi movie she loved was District 9. And I told her the same thing I’d tell anyone who wasn’t sure if they were a geek or not: if you feel passionately enough about something to want to call yourself a geek, then you are one. Plain and simple. There is no checklist of criteria to meet, no committee ready to revoke your geek card if you don’t know who Optimus Prime is. 

But the truth is, the geek community can sometimes be pretty defensive about what it likes and doesn’t like, and there is the belief that some fandoms are universally known and universally beloved and it can cause a bit of a kerfuffle if you come out as a “hater”. 

I know. Trust me, I know. I’ve been called a “hater” and been asked to turn in my geek card. I try not to admit it when I don’t like something, and this is pretty hypocritical. So, this is confession time:

I really, really don’t like Firefly. 

Sorry Firefly: It's not you, it's me.

I’ve watched the series and the movie and I could go on about the issues I have with them, but the bottom line is that I don’t like Firefly at all, and for that I’ve been non-jokingly told to turn in my geek card. 

There’s more. Last year, I finally read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and felt a resounding “meh” about it. The reaction I usually get when I admit this is, “But how can you not like it?? You’re such a geek!”

The very thing that makes us geeks—an adoring devotion to our favourite things—is also our downfall. When you really, really love something, it’s hard not to take it personally when someone else dislikes it. And I get it, too. I’ve been on the other side. I once tried and tried so hard to get a friend of mine to enjoy Futurama and I couldn’t help but feel a little personally insulted and betrayed when she just didn’t like it. 

But the problem was mine, not hers. The issue was a difference in tastes, not an attack on my fandom, nor is my dislike of your fandom an attack on you. 

There are thousands of fandoms out there; no one is going to be familiar with them all. Heck, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about Dungeons and Dragons. Similarly, some of my closest geek friends have never even heard of Earth: Final Conflict. In the same vein, no one is going to love every fandom, and that’s okay. 

If someone is aghast because you don’t like Game of Thrones, kindly introduce them to your middle finger. If anyone ever requests that you hand in your geek card because you don’t like their thing, remind them that you love what you love, and that you don’t owe your time and fandom energy to anyone but yourself. 

Marie Victoria Robertson is a published speculative fiction writer and playwright, as well as the board president of Jer’s Vision: Canada’s Youth Diversity Initiative (www.jersvision.org). When all the other girls wanted to marry Johnny Depp, she wanted to run away with Worf on the Enterprise. She enjoys giant robots, time-travel paradoxes, and forcing her son to watch Futurama.

Meet Ottawa Geek Social Club!

MEET OTTAWA GEEK SOCIAL CLUB!
By Angela Hartwick

When I say geek, you say social! Wait, what? 

Geeks aren’t best known for their social skills but social geeks do exist, as do introverted geeks that want to expand their horizons. I run a group called the Ottawa Geek Social Club. The club strives to build the local community of adults with geeky interests. Since 2010 we’ve been providing a menu of local geeky fare and space to socialize with the like-minded. 

CYBER HOMES
The group’s homebase is meetup.com, a social networking hub that focuses on getting people together based on their location and common interests. There are currently almost 300 meetup groups in the Ottawa area, based on interests such as politics, food, sports, singles, and parenting. There’s something for everyone and I encourage anyone who likes people plus anything else to browse the site. We’ve recently been making ourselves more visible by creating a website page, a Facebook page, and twitter, but of course most of the fun is in the meets themselves.

WHAT ARE MEETUP EVENTS?
Meetup events can be created by any group member, they can be small or large, exclusive to the club or open to the public, recurring or one-offs, and related to a myriad of geeky interests. We’ve hosted movie nights in members’ homes, board game nights, geocaching, lan parties, and Magic: the Gathering leagues. Our signature meetup is the bi-annual Meet & Geek, where members gather en masse to socialize over the many facets of geekdom, play games, and enjoy snacks and drinks.

We also schedules meetups to attend bigger events such as WonderGeeks Activate parties, Comic Con, geeky triple bills at the Mayfair, lightspeed dating, Doors Open Ottawa, nerdlesque shows, and astronomy nights at the museum. This way, OGSC members can attend as part of a small group. If there’s an event that’s geeky and in Ottawa let us know about it and we’ll likely promote it!

INTEREST-BASED FRIENDS: EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE THEM
Most of my friends I’ve met in one of five ways: growing up in the same neighbourhood, attending the same high school, joining the same parenting group, working together (formerly or presently), and through the OGSC. Until OGSC I had few friends who wanted to play Arkham Horror on a Friday night, check out the opening of a new Pinball venue, or meet Peter S. Beagle. Many members have made lifelong friends. A dozen members were near and dear to me enough to invite to my wedding two years ago, and Assistant Organizer Sara met her husband Will at an OGSC event in its early days. 

NEW THINGS!
We’ve recently started publishing event reviews where members can share their thoughts and experiences. This is an exciting step in supporting the local community (in addition to publicizing and attending events). And in October, the Ottawa Geek Social Club will be partnering with the Ottawa Geek Market to run their very first "Geek Social" evening event: a networking/trivia night/pizza party.

If you’re interested in meeting people and finding out about interesting events you may otherwise have missed you should check us out at www.ogsc.ca. 

Angela is a 30-something year old mom of three kids - a baby, a school-aged kid and a teenager – and a furbaby, living in Orleans with her geek soul mate husband. She studied English Literature and Social Work but took an unexpected turn somewhere and ended up working as a policy analyst for the feds. Hobbies include reading, playing boardgames and Magic: the Gathering, cooking healthy foods, blogging, and discussing favourite tv shows and movies. She is the proud organizer of the Ottawa Geek Social Club, which strives to provide meetup opportunities that reflect the many facets of geekdom and beyond! www.ogsc.ca.

Geek Girl Review: Harley Quinn Invades Comic-Con

HARLEY QUINN INVADES COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL SAN DIEGO #1 BY AMANDA CONNER AND JIMMY PALMIOTTI, AMANDA CONNER AND PAUL MOUNTS- COVER ART, VARIOUS ARTISTS THROUGHOUT THE COMIC

 By Thea Nikolic

So it's that time of year again. The one and only San Diego Comic-Con and Harley Quinn decides that she will attend this year's convention. First off, the creators treated this comic like the #0 one in the fact that there were multiple writers and artists creating the whole story. And it works as it matches Harley's crazy personality. Also, it was an extremely fun and entertaining read. She gets into all sorts of trouble, including getting kicked out a couple of times and finding herself in a room full of Joker cosplayers, which she proceeds to test to see if her 'real' puddin' in amongst them. And on top of everything, Harley is looking to show her art to top comic artists to see if she could make it in the comic art world, and there are some big names in DC that are drawn and talked with some nice surprises.

Definitely worth picking up even if you don't collect the regular series as it is a complete story without talking about the rest of her continuity. So if you weren't able to make it SDCC this year, you can still live it through Harley's eyes.

Thea Nikolic aka Critical Miss has been cosplaying for several years and has just recently started hosting panels at various conventions about cosplay. She is also an actor, so she loves to play and act like her various characters that she loves. You can follow her cosplay shenanigans with her costuming husband at their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/criticalmissandretrojoad. You can also follow her on Twitter @HarleyQuinnBabe as well as on Instagram harleyquinnbabe. 

Geek Girl Review: Hercules

HERCULES: 21ST CENTURY EDITION
By Courtney Lockhart 

It’s been awhile since a team has attempted to bring the legend of Hercules to the big screen. Even longer since a live action version. The last live action Hercules most of us remember  involves Kevin Sorbo running around Greece with  Bruce Campbell. It is a tricky prospect that needs the right effects, the right cast and the right story.  Brett Ratner didn’t manage a perfect score in any category, but definitely tried to strike a balance.

When it comes to the story, there is one aspect that is sure to divide the audience: There are NO gods. This Hercules ( Dwayne Johnson)  is a mercenary. The legends surrounding him are all the work of either the hero’s storyteller nephew Iolaus (Reece Ritchie) , or misconceptions he never bothered correcting since they were good for business.   So how does he actually get things done if he isn’t a demi-god? Hercules has a scooby gang!  The see-er Amphiaraus ( Ian McShane), amazonian archer Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal), spartan thief Autolycus (Rufus Sewell) and mute warrior Tydeus. (Aksel Hennie)  The film follows the team as they embark on the classic trope of ‘one last job before retirement’: protecting Trace  and it’s royal family (John Hurt, Rebecca Ferguson and Isaac Andrews)  from a bloodthirsty warlord names Rhesus. (Tobias Santelmann) I found the plot, loosely based on the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars by Steve Moore, moderately predictable. I could see the complications and problems coming a mile away, but couldn’t figure out the solutions quite as easily.  

Ian McShane absolutely steals the show and provides much needed lightness to the piece.  The rest of the cast, similar to the audience I was watching with, seemed to forget that action movies are allowed to have humour in them. Dwayne Johnson, who is known for being a extremely charismatic performer, confuses stoicism with stilted delivery until the film’s climax.

I rarely find a film that has used 3D as well as this one did. It was not merely added depth as it was in Captain America: The Winter Solider and there were no cheap ‘reaching into the audience’ gags.  The extra effects were used to swirl the action around you and made the battles visually stunning. Extra points for not using shaky cam. The action sweeps smoothly from one point of view to another without going so fast to upset movie-goers with motion sensitivity.  

In the era of the deconstructed fairy tale, this Hercules is another case of trying to make the mythical manageable.  The result is a film that is a bit lacklustre but still an enjoyable way to spend 98 minutes.

Courtney Lockhart lives in the west end of Ottawa with her husband and step-cat.  She is polishing her skills to pursue one of her dream careers as either a costume drama character, Torchwood operative or executive assistant to a billionaire vigilante. You can follow her daily mission to DFTBA on Twitter @corastacy.

San Diego Comic-Con Highlights

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON HIGHLIGHTS
By Emily Towsley

Now that the International Comi-Con is starting to wind down, it’s time to take a look at some of the things that happened at the “nerd prom” that not all of us got to attend. The lucky few that did, let it be noted that I am extremely jealous of you. However, that even you oh lucky one, probably missed a few things. So let’s get down to business. 

COSPLAY AND CONSENT
In a previous article I outlined the issues female cosplayers have been documented having at conventions. Over 1 in 4 women polled have admitted to being harassed about their attire at a convention. This year at SDCC,  an anti-harassment policy was included in the handbook, and attendees were assured there would be security on hand and swift responses to reports. The Verdict? Still out. Since Comic-Con is just wrapping up, we haven’t heard much about the present state of harassment at San Diego. But, I am still very impressed that their anti-harassment policy made it to the handbook. I am especially glad that this problem is finally being addressed as a problem, not just something girls should “dress less slutty” to avoid. 

VENDORS 

Besides the awesomely beautiful items that were SDCC exclusives, the LA weekly reported some distinct trends that emerged in the buying patterns of our fellow nerds – Jon Snow’s Direwolf Ghost as Funko sculpture was a popular item, as were the anniversary items for Alien, Ghostbusters and Hello Kitty. Even though most vendors limit the amount of items each person can buy in order to eliminate too many resellers, some of the more popular booths ran out of their inventory early in the day. The most prepared fans camped out before the doors even opened in order to get their prized items. For that Direwolf, I completely understand. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS
There were so many, here is a link  to a list with a run-down of every category. I'll share a few here, but be warned- possible SPOILER alerts ahead.

Game of Thrones held a panel, and led with an amazing bloopers reel! Whether you’re as big of a fan of GOT as I am or not, seeing these seriously intimidating robed characters goof off on screen is definitely a good time. George R.R Martin will not be writing an episode this season, or possibly even visiting the set, as he is seriously buckling down on his novel writing.  While Martin’s presence will undoubtedly be missed,  the Thrones family will be growing by 9 this year including legendary character actor Jonathan Pryce, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine alum Alexander Siddig, and Academy Award Nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes. 

Marvel Comics expanded on their previous announcement that Thor puts down his hammer, and a woman is to take the role next. "This all goes back to when I launched Thor: God of Thunder, it's all been leading up to the moment where Thor can't pick up his hammer. I wanted someone to pick up that hammer, and not be just for a moment or a scene, but for the foreseeable future” said Aaron Daughterman about the future changes, “The idea is to follow her as she carries his hammer, and not just picks it up to whack somebody for a couple of pages.”  During the Marvel Cinematic panel Saturday night, the crowd was treated to the first clips from Avengers: Age of Ultron as well as a July 28th 2017 release date for Guardians of the Galaxy 2. 

Warner Brothers and DC Comics held several panels to show off their big and small screen accomplishments. A teaser trailer for Batman V Superman was overshadowed by the premiere of the first official images of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.  On the TV side,   the Arrow teaser trailer was recut between Friday and Saturday to reveal that Ra’s al Ghul will be making his way to the CW this fall.  

As the news continues to roll in about the SDCC panels and the overall atmosphere of the Con, I’ll continue to read it – and daydream about the day when I too can go to “nerd prom”. Until then my nerd-lettes, that’s a wrap! 

Emily Towsley, can be found either teasing her cat, or philosophizing with a customer over coffee in her second-life as a barista. Messages of support regarding her addiction to Netflix, and news of vintage teacup sales can be left on her twitter. (https://twitter.com/emtowsley) Her spare time is spent reading copious amounts of books, (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7246432-milie) or working on her latest blog. (http://spineonline.ca/emily-towsley/) 

CGG Reviews: LUCY--More Than An Action Movie

by Jordan Danger and MJ Baker

LUCY: SO MUCH MORE THAN AN ACTION MOVIE

I opted to review Lucy because I enjoy movies with theoretical science as a catalyst for the plot line. I expected something akin to Elysium or Limitless, but what I got was so much more.

The premise of Lucy is simple: a young American woman, living in Taipei, is accidentally dosed with a large quantity of a drug that opens up her brain’s full potential, revealing a myriad of skills like telekinesis and telepathy. I had assumed the rest of the movie would be Lucy, played by Scarlett Johansson, wreaking vengeance on the drug cartel that had dosed her. Boy, was I wrong.

The movie was a cleverly cloaked commentary on the human condition and humanity’s eventual evolution. In the words of my co-reviewer, MJ Baker, “It was like a new age science class wrapped in an action movie”. Director Luc Besson, also famous for his film The Fifth Element, takes us on a journey from the beginning of homo sapiens all the way to modern day life, somehow intertwining this story with a hell of a lot of theoretical neurophysics and sugar coating it in a thrilling Bourne Identity-like storyline.

Johannson is not an actress that has, honestly caught my attention much in the past; however, her performance in this role was exceptionally well done. She spends a good deal of the film in an emotionless state, but unlike Keanu Reeve’s portrayal of the famous Neo, it didn’t come off wooden or flat. We found ourselves swept up in feeling what Lucy must be feeling, thinking what she must be thinking, and yet wondering what would happen next.

The film presented some intriguing theories that have been explored by scientists in real life, in way that was accessible and exciting. “Let’s face it,” says MJ, “Morgan Freeman can explain anything to you and it sounds completely reasonable.” Besson’s intermingling of documentary footage, a monologue in a lecture hall by Freeman, and scenes of the actual plot line were seamless. What was cool about this film was the number of ways the director conveyed a message or emotion without any words at all. Indeed, some of the most poignant parts of this film were completely without dialogue.

Do not go into Lucy expecting another action film; you won’t get it. However, if you are looking for something that combines all the energy of a thriller with the art house quality of a foreign film (and a heavy dose of an episode of Carl Sagan’s ‘The Cosmos’), you’re in for a treat. The teenagers behind us were entirely displeased with the film, and loudly proclaimed this at the end; however, my science geek comrade was rendered mute by the climax and I personally found myself wanting to stay for a second screening so I could soak up all the philosophical dilemmas presented.

In short, this movie was so much more than we expected. It’s a shame that it is likely to be overlooked as so many films are that successfully marry the genres of science and fiction.

MJ Baker is a baker (no lie); she owns Bake It So! Bakery, a custom-order bakeshop in Ottawa. She is also a lifelong geek, first and foremost a fanatical Star Wars fan. Her head holds more geek and science trivia than Wikipedia. MJ is the co-star of Capital Geek Girls' YouTube show, 'Two Girls Talking'. She loves fireflies, coffee, and books of all sorts.

Jordan Danger is a veteran blogger, writer, and marketing consultant based in Ottawa, Ontario. She is also President and Editor in Chief of CapitalGeekGirls.com. Jordan blogs at GirlCrafted.com, a lifestyle blog about crafting life both literally and figuratively. She loves DIY projects, her dog, and Oxford commas.

Summer Short Reads: Wonderful Women Writing Sci-Fi and Fantasy

SUMMER SHORT READS: WONDERFUL WOMEN WRITING SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY 

By Marla Desat

I love short fiction. I love when a story that takes me mere minutes to read sticks in my brain, and captures my imagination for days, invading quiet moments to reveal its depth. I particularly love short science fiction and fantasy stories. These stories pack so much into just a few pages.  This summer, I'm also trying to add diversity to what I read, and to read more work written by women. So, I took to nomination lists for literary awards to find some great writers that I haven't read before.  Here are two great short stories you can read right now!

RACHEL SWIRSKY – "IF YOU WERE A DINOSAUR, MY LOVE" 

The strength of this story rests in Rachel Swirsky's deft interplay of science fiction, fantasy, love, and grief. Swirsky's imagery is vivid without being overdone. As the story slowly reveals itself, you are swept up in the emotions of the narrator. The tragic truth behind the desperate fantasy of this story lands hard and heavy, and left me tearing up thinking about it for days. "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" won the 2013 Nebula Award for Best Short Story and has been nominated for the same category for the Hugo Awards, which will be awarded this August. 

Read it here. 

SOFIA SAMATAR – "SELKIE STORIES ARE FOR LOSERS"

The selkies of myths and legends live as seals in the sea but can shed their skin to become human on land. If a person steals their skin, the selkie is forced to remain in human form and is under their power, until they can regain their skin and return to the sea. Sophia Samatar's "Selkie Stories Are for Losers" tells the story of a young girl dealing with the grief of her mother's disappearance. Her friend, Mona, also struggles with a broken family, and the two girls bond. This lovely short story about the effect on children of parental breakups, be they mythological or mundane.  "Selkie Stories Are for Losers" was nominated for the 2013 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, and has also been nominated for the Hugo Award in the same category. Samatar is also up for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, which recognizes new professional science fiction and fantasy writers. 

Read it here. 

Marla Desat is a recent University of Waterloo grad living and working in Ottawa. When she isn't playing the latest video games, she's geeking out over comic books, board games, tabletop roleplaying games and science. Marla also writes for The Escapist as a freelance news writer. You can follow her on Twitter @mrdesat.