Today is National Geek Pride Day. What should you do in honor of Geek Pride Day? Well, since the date was chosen to commemorate the release of the first Star Wars film, so you could watch that! Heck, you can dress up like Vader all you want. May 25th also happens to fall on Towel Day—so get your Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy out!
We at Geekadelphia are doing our own share of celebrating in our secret lair in Center City. (Yes, we have a secret lair. No, we won’t tell you where it is). Dave is reading and writing comics all day. Dan is locking himself in the closest movie theater he can find to watch the most grotesque foreign film. Eric is sitting around in his Master Chief armor feeding his rabbits, and I’ve locked myself in my with season 6 of Doctor Who.
In honor of Geek Pride Day, here are some photos of our Geekadelphia staff “geeking out” in various ways. So have a wonderful Geek Pride Day, and let your geek flag fly!
How will you be celebrating? Tell us in the comments, or share your favorite geeking out photos!
Meet my good friend Marisa McClellan. A celebrated blogger (and now a published author!), Marisa runs the wildly popular Food in Jars blog, where she teaches the Internet how to make delicious canned nibbles.
Yesterday Marisa’s book, Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round, hit stores everywhere via Running Press, a lovely publisher here in Philadelphia. The book is fantastic, the photography is beautiful, and you should absolutely pick it up immediately.
In honor of her book release, Marisa’s our Geek of the Week. Enjoy, and make sure you visit her blog at foodinjars.com.
1. What made you decide to launch Food in Jars? Why canning?
I started Food in Jars in early 2009 because my job as the editor of Slashfood (AOL’s now-defunct food blog) was ending and I wanted to stay in the food blogging world. I grew up canning with my mom and have been entirely obsessed with jars for years, so it was something that was always part of my life. At the time, there weren’t really any blogs out there dealing with canning, so I figured it would be a good niche for me. At the time though, I had no idea that canning would effectively become my career.
2. A lot of times when a blog lands a book deal, we see those blogs go quiet, start updating less. You? You don’t stop. How did you find a balance between writing on the blog, pursuing your other writing interests, and working on your cookbook?
To my mind, it was never an option to stop writing the blog while writing my book. One of the reasons that I got the opportunity to write the book was that I had an engaged community of readers. A large part of my value as an author was that audience. I had to continue to feed that relationship and develop that community so that there would be people welcoming the book when it was finally released. So I kept writing.
I will say that the summer of 2010 was really hard, because that’s when I was developing all the recipes for my book and was still working full time. I spent all my free time canning and making sure all the recipes for the book worked, while also continuing to invent stuff for the blog. It wasn’t so much about balance as it was general brute force.
If you have ever starred blankly at your Kindle because it wouldn’t work right or tried to figure out how to set up a TypePad blog and went to the bookstore to get some help, then you probably know the name Scott McNulty. The author of several books about everything from Google + to WordPress, Scott has been helping people get in touch with their technology for years.
Scott was nice enough to answer a few questions about writing, being a foodie and giving writing advice to your wife.
So tell the Geekadelphia readers about yourself. Have you always been a tech guy?
I’ve always been a geek, even in the Dark ages when that wasn’t cool, but I haven’t always been a tech guy. I spent most of my childhood/teen years reading about elves and spaceships, but I wasn’t really interested in technology. In fact, I didn’t even own a computer of my own until a year after I graduated from college in 1999.
What’s the hardest part of taking something like, say, the Kindle Fire, and making it easy for anyone to use?
Probably getting people to realize that tech books offer up useful information that you won’t find in the manual. Technology companies spend a lot of money trying to convince people that their products are “intuitive” and “easy to use.” In some cases this is true, but I find that lots of people still turn to the geeks in their lives to answer a variety of questions.
When I write I try to image myself in that role of tech confidante, answering the questions people have but might be hesitant to ask because the gadget they’re using is supposed to be so simple to use.
Other than that it is all about judging how much your reader knows vs. what they don’t. Will they know what “tapping” and “swiping” on a screen means? Surely they’ve heard of apps, but do they really know what apps are?
You are also something of a foodie. Are there any similarities between writing about food and tech?
I don’t do a heck of a lot of food writing, but I can tell you that people really into food, just like those really into tech, have strong opinions and aren’t afraid to share them.
All writers have a natural enemy: the deadline. My biggest piece of advice for Marisa, which she ignored, was: start writing as much as you can now even though your deadline is months and months away. When I wrote my first book I had something like 7 months to write it, so I spent the first month thinking about how cool it was I was writing a book.
I spent the second month thinking maybe I should start. The third month was devoted to really getting that outline fleshed out while the fourth month was all about organizing my desk (I can’t write this all these distractions!). Then I freaked out because I only had a few weeks to turn in the first half of the book, so I spent as many of my waking hours as possible feverishly writing.
I hoped to spare Marisa this experience, but you really have to live through it to understand.
So what’s next for you in terms of writing?
I’m sure I’ll write another tech book or two that no one in my family will read.
If you had a choice, get your hands on the next-gen iPad a month before everyone else or dinner at a brand new high end restaurant so you could write a review, which would you choose?
Assuming the dinner was free, I’d go with the restaurant. It would be neat to play with a next-gen iPad, but you have to return those review units so I’d end up buying one for myself. However, I don’t think the restaurant would want me to return my meal.
This week’s Geek of the Week is a man of varied interests, my pal Brian Lim.
Philadelphia foodies might know Brian from his food blog Bridges Burgers Beer, where he rambles about local nibbles, or from his work with Foodspotting as a Philly Foodspotting ambassador. Those driving in and out of thte city… well, you probably don’t know him, but he’s the gentleman who helps engineer those bridges your car zips over.
Bridges. Burgers. Blogs. Brian does a lot. Read on to learn about this geeky gentleman.
So when you aren’t busy at your day job, you run a food blog. Tell us a bit about it.
I started my blog, Bridges, Burgers & Beer in October of 2009. It was sorta created out of boredom. I like to eat, drink, and cook. I’m also somewhat of a bridge geek. I hoped to combine my passions for all those things in my blog.
You party down with the Philly Foodspotting community quite a bit. Tell us about that group.
I got hooked on Foodspotting a few years ago when my friend/fellow blogger, Amy Cao, started to work with them. Because I take photos of my food normally and it was a fun, neat way to find food, I figured why not contribute to Foodspotting.
Welcome to this week’s Geek of the Week, where we highlight the fun and creative people of our city. This week, we talk to both sides of the power-couple behind the Talkadelphia podcast. For their work, Kishwer and Gino were winners in our first-ever Philadelphia Geek Awards for Best New Podcast last year.
It’s been over 50 episodes/a year and a half now. How did this all begin, why did you want to start a local podcast?
Kishwer: I was listening to an acquaintance, the talented jazz composer and pianist, Vijay Iyer, talk to Terry Gross over on NPR’s podcast, Fresh Air and it struck me that writing really sucks. At the time, I was doing a number of Q&As for MTV Desi and I found it especially challenging to encapsulate people’s words in neat, 500-word blog posts. I wanted people to be able to tell their stories in their own words and using their own voices. Words can sometimes strip people of their personalities.
Plus, I missed the connection I felt to Philadelphia when I used to blog regularly from my own site. So on October 14, 2010, I tweeted: “I want to do a podcast. How do I do this and who wants to be interviewed.” And 10 seconds later, Gino, my then-boyfriend, called me. He was on board with the idea from day one. He really made it all happen.
Gino: It was all her idea. I just do what I’m told.
Listeners of the podcast will know that you guys are law school students. What else would you like to say about yourselves?
Kishwer: I have an unnatural affection for bacon.
Gino: I’m a comic book geek, a sports nerd and a movie nut. If they made a movie where the Avengers played football, I would self-combust.
Who’s been the most interest, favorite or notable guest you’ve had on thus far?
Kishwer: I really enjoyed talking to author Lorene Cary. She was someone I’d read since I was in high school and it was such a treat to find out she was as animated in person as she is on paper. And of course, it was a thrill to interview Philadelphia Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan. And let’s not forget Mayor Nutter. He has quite a sense of humor.
Gino: Obviously, no one can top our second ever guest, noted novelist Eric Smith. What’s that you say? He has something to do with this outfit? I had no idea!
What future plans do you have for the podcast?
Kishwer: As long as people still engage in our content, we know they’re listening and want to hear from us. As for future plans, well, we’ve recently become members of PhillyCAM and I think it may be neat to someday include a few video clips of our interviews.
Gino: What we try to do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!
Who are some people you’d like to interview in the future?
Kishwer: Bill Cosby. Nothing more Philly than Bill Cosby. I actually did interview him for my high school paper when he came to visit. But he just dodged all my “serious” questions with jokes. Somebody hook us up!
Gino: I’ve always said my dream interview would be Will Smith. I would make him sing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song on the podcast with me. I might settle for Tina Fey, though.
Have any upcoming events that we should be keeping an eye for?
Kishwer: On Thursday, April 26, we’ll be at PhillyCAM from 1PM-2PM for Philly Tech Week, taping a live, streaming episode of Talkadelphia called “The Future of iOS Games,” featuring Yis Goodwin and Jeff Hsu of the iOS game Catball Eats It All and William Stallwood and Andrei Marks of Cipher Prime, a Philadelphia-based game studio as they talk about the next phase in iOS gaming. Come join us!
Gino: What she said.
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For folks reading this, you must check out their podcast immediately. Visit TalkadelphiaRadio.com or look for them on iTunes.
Koreen started Tandem Learning in 2008 to address an unmet need in the learning space using technology with an emphasis on performance improvement and behavioral change. Koreen has strong ties to education and Philadelphia, having received her MS in Curriculum and Instruction from Penn State University and helping start Freire Charter School in Philadelphia in 1999.
Recently, Koreen’s experience has been in the development of learning solutions, with particular expertise in simulations, serious games, mobile learning, augmented reality and the application of virtual worlds for learning. That means she’s a serious gamer, readers!
Tell me about Learning in Tandem.
Koreen: Learning in Tandem was the blog that I started when I started my company, Tandem Learning, four years ago. I thought when I started that I would be writing about being a female entrepreneur and all of the challenges of founding a tech services start up. Over the years it evolved into a journal of sorts, and I write about all kinds of things, but I try to always tie it back to learning, design or other business-related topics.
When my company was acquired by Ayogo Games last fall, I realized how varied the topics I write about are. I started writing for myself, assuming no one would ever read it, but its amazing how many times I’ll meet someone and they’ll bring up a specific blog post or say, “oh, I read about that on your blog!”
Realizing I wasn’t just talking to myself has made me try to bring meaning to my personal experiences and make my lessons learned (hopefully!) relevant for other people. Only very rarely do I talk about my adorable children or hilarious anecdotes!
You’re a self-proclaimed gamer, tell me about your favorite games.
Koreen: Ugh, I am a gamer that doesn’t play nearly enough games! I think that’s probably fairly common with game designers. I was having a conversation recently about my gaming “style”…basically I play a new game for an hour or so and figure out if there is anything new that I could incorporate into one of my designs. If there is, then I’ll play more to figure out how it works. If not, it gets shelved. I was told that I’m a deconstructionist. I interpreted that as a shade of gamer snob…but I’m ok with that.
That said, I have some favorites that really expanded my own game design and what I teach my grad students. Scribblenauts… brilliant in its design and potential for learning. Heavy Rain is an amazing example of decision-making impacting storyline. Portal 2 is maybe the best puzzle-based game I’ve seen. I do tend to prefer the more immersive storyline driven experiences; Myst is still the only game I’ve ever finished. I have SkyRim waiting for me to play…I’ve “gamified” finishing my book, Immersive Learning, so I’m not allowed to play until I submit all of my chapters, which thankfully is any second now. My guilty pleasure game is Endless Ocean.
I’m also playing a lot of mobile games, since they tend to be shorter and I can play easily when I travel. Lately its Jetpack Joyride and Zwonks, which was recently released by Rude Boy Games, a division of my new company. I’m not sure they know how much I’ve been playing and I have hesitated to bring it up in any of our meetings. I guess they know now (more…)
The owners of the store, Adam Friedman and Benn Roe, are two of my favorite geeks in all of Philadelphia. After playing some King of Tokyo with them, I got them to answer some questions for me.
So tell us – what’s a Redcap, exactly?
Benn: A redcap is a cruel and unforgiving faerie who springs into existence in order to commit murder on nature’s behalf. He looks like a slightly goblinoid old man, usually found carrying a scythe or an iron pike and always found wearing a red hat, dripping with the blood of his victims. Being the savvy businessmen that we are, we knew right away this was the creature we wanted to identify with our store.
Adam: What he said.
What was the driving force behind you opening a board game shop?
Adam: I’ll let Benn cover this one.
Benn: After college, it slowly began to dawn on me that a political science and philosophy double major with a minor in English didn’t actually point toward any sort of career, and I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with my life. In high school I had wanted to open up a political bookshop with a coffee shop attached to it, so I started thinking of entrepreneurial sorts of things to do.
I quickly realized that I was driving out to the suburbs to play games at Alternate Universes, even though I lived in Philadelphia proper, and it all just sort of fell together. Philly needed a game store and I needed something to do with my life, plus starting a business where I could get paid to play games meant I didn’t even have to give up being a kid. (more…)
Sure they might’ve removed fighting in NHL ’94, but it’s still celebrated as one of the greatest sports video games of all time. It supported four players at once and introduced first-timers to hockey video games. Nearly twenty years later, this gem of the 16-bit era lives on.
Other stuff to know: this is a 21+ event, there will be a 50/50 raffle, they’ll be giving away three copies of NHL ’12 courtesy of EA and it’s also rumored that there’ll be some Versus/NBC swag as well.
Arguably one of the biggest comics event of 2012, Marvel pits two of its most popular teams against one another to save the world. Avengers vs X-Men is a 12 issue series that written and drawn by some of the most popular artists today.
While you might be able to pick up the first issue on Wednesday, April 4th, why not get it a day earlier and not risk having someone on twitter or ruin the surprises of the story? Many comic shops will be selling the first issue of Avengers Vs X-Men April 3rd at 8pm. Captain Blue Hen in Newark, DE and The Comic Book Shop in Wilmington, DE are two such shops.
Captain Blue Hen Comics and The Comic Book Shop will each host a party based around the team they hope will come out on top. More information below:
The world’s greatest super heroes enter an unforgettable battle. Avengers—Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Spider-Man, and more go up against X-Men—Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Magneto and others. Avengers are the big public heroes of the Marvel Universe while the X-Men are underground, outcast mutant heroes. Only one side can emerge victorious!
Captain Blue Hen Comics on Main Street in Newark is on the side of the Avengers. The Comic Book Shop on Marsh Road in Wilmington is on the side of the X-Men. It’s a rivalry for the ages as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes go up against Marvel’s Mutant Misfits.
“The Avengers and the X-men are the two premiere superhero teams of modern mythology- they even have competing movie franchises” says Captain Blue Hen Comics owner Joe Murray. “It’s an emotionally-charged rivalry that ranks up there with Eagles vs. Cowboys, Yankees vs. Red Sox, Mac vs. PC or Chocolate vs. Vanilla. Fan speculation on the outcome of individual battles will be heated. Obviously the Avengers will win, but it should still be an exciting face-off. Our parties will celebrate the excitement and fun of comics with the atmosphere of the big playoff game.”
For more information on Avengers Vs X-men, you can visit marvel’s website for the event here. For more information, check out the Captain Blue Hen website.
Philadelphia is rife with comic book talent, thanks to creators such as our newest Geek of the Week, Bryan Glass. Glass is most notably known as co-creator of the indie hit Mice Templar, an epic comic where mice are as a brave as men and cats are the enemy. But he has also lent his talent to Marvel, most recently reworking the origin story in Thor: The First Thunder.
In 2009, Glass won comic’s prestigious Harvey Award for “Best New Talent.” The best part? Glass calls Philly his hometown and still lives here! Geekadelphia has the chance to ask him a few questions.
Tell me about Mice Templar.
THE MICE TEMPLAR is a series I co-created with [Marvel creator] Mike Oeming back in 2003. As its title suggests it is an anthropomorphic medieval fantasy. It’s of the high fantasy/dark fantasy genre, so it deals with magic, legends, prophecies, ancient evil and destiny.
Along the course of the story our hero, the young mouse Karic, is trying to find his own place in the larger scheme of things, he’s coming to understand the complexities, both good and bad, of politics, of religion, of the impact of both on his culture. It’s also a coming of age adventure wherein Karic is coming to terms with childish perceptions of the world clashing with adult realities.
So the series has been around since 2003? What’s next for the series?
Well, together, we’ve been producing regular issues of MICE TEMPLAR since 2007, and are currently developing the climactic fourth volume of our saga to begin sometime in 2012!
What do you geek out to?
I love all forms of storytelling, most notably books and movies. Little by little, I’m seeking to replicate the theater experience to the best of my ability (and budget) within my own home — you, yourself, were a participant in our Halloween Fright Fest of Films! Hopefully I can keep improving on the experience.
And what a movie night it was! And what books are you into right now?
I’ve always been a fan of Stephen King, and I’ve been so for so long that I can now see how his popularity has ebbed and flowed in waves. I’m really enjoying the uptick he’s experienced of late.
In comics, I’m digging DC’s “New 52.” The DC Universe has always been a bit impenetrable for me, so this endeavor is the right thing for a potential new reader to come aboard. Highlights for me thus far have been ALL-STAR WESTERN, ANIMAL MAN, AQUAMAN, BATMAN, GREEN LANTERN, I, VAMPIRE, SWAMP THING.
Glad to hear you’re enjoying DC’s newest endeavor. But now let’s talk about Philly! What are your usual haunts in our fair city?
Have always been a big fan of our Philly museums: Art, Franklin Institute, Academy of Natural Sciences, Mutter…I love the various art galleries that are scattered from South Street to the suburbs. One of my favorite bars is the Grey Lodge Pub in Northeast Philly: great food, great atmosphere!
Lastly, what projects do you have coming up?
I’m currently developing a slate of different comic miniseries in varied genres. The challenge at this stage of my career is to break the expectation of fantasy guy, so my new tales are a little bit of everything between Supernatural Horror to Sci-Fi to Superheroes, as well as crossing genres in a few unexpected mash-ups. I got a lot to get to before the end of the world!
For this week’s Geek of the Week, we sit down and chat with Katrina Weidman, Bucks County native and Penn State grad. She’s currently a cast member on A&E’s Paranormal State investigating all the spooky stuff.
So Katrina, how did you get involved in all the paranormal stuff?
I’ve always been interested in the supernatural. I grew up in Bucks County and lived in haunted houses. When you’re constantly having experiences you have this need to find out “What was that?” It’s human nature to want answers for something you don’t quite understand. My mother’s side of the family was always very interested in the supernatural as well.
That side of the family also had experiences so it was never taboo to talk about ghosts in my family, it was normal and fascinating. I was always reading books on ghosts or watching scary movies. At sleep overs I was the one who broke out the Ouija board, which usually left my friends in tears and calling their parents for a ride home.
For those who are completely clueless about what you do, what does being a paranormal investigator mean?
In layman’s terms: I investigate, study and research anything science can’t explain. This includes UFOs, ghosts, demons, cryptos — anything in that realm.
What’s been the most challenging part of working on Paranormal State?
The schedule. The first season I was still a student at Penn State. Juggling two majors, a minor, three clubs and filming a TV show on top of it, I’m honestly surprised I somehow managed to graduate. After graduation, you’d think it were easier, but it wasn’t. We were working all the time on finding cases and clients. If we weren’t doing that we were traveling or filming for the show. I loved it, but you really do lose track of days and there were definitely times I would forget what town we were even in.
The downside to all of it is sometimes you have to miss out on other events, like weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, etc. That part was really hard for me because my friends mean the world to me.
What else are you up to aside from A&E and the spooky stuff?
Career-wise, I have a few projects that I’m working on. My next project was a two-hour special on Chiller. It’s called “Real Fear: The Truth Behind the Movies.” I am huge horror movie fan and whenever the previews say, “based on true events” I’m usually researching those “true events” for weeks! I’ll read every book, article and watch every documentary or interview. This project was a perfect fit!
Tell me about your other hobbies.
I’ve got tons! Snowboarding, cooking, knitting, dancing, playing piano, etc. I guess my “odd” hobby would be my weird obsession with The Golden Girls, I own every DVD, t-shirts, trivia books and more. I watch this show just about every day and will normally talk someone’s ear off about how awesome it is. This is usually met with a weird look.
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Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Katrina. We admire your real-life X-Files investigations. Readers, be sure to follow @KatrinaWeidman on Twitter or check out her official Facebook fan page.
My least favorite part of moving into a new place is living with white walls. Luckily there are people like Sean Martorana who spend their days making sure I don’t have to.
Sean, however, does much more than paint.
He’s the do-it-all artist you can’t possibly keep up with. Not satisfied by the thousands of paintings and drawings he’s created over they years, he’s begun to take on increasingly bold challenges such as designing jewelry, painting entire facades of restaurants, or covering office interiors floor to ceiling in a mash of murals and paintings. Hailing from Glassboro, NJ, Sean now inhabits Northern Liberties and spends most of his days working out of Indy Hall.
You create nonstop. What is it about the act of creation you can’t seem to get enough of?
Creation serves two very important purposes in my life. Selfishly, it’s a very therapeutic process. I feel good when I complete a work of art or a beautiful design; it’s a type of high. If I go too long without creating something, my thoughts start to get really chaotic. Keeping up my creativity keeps me sane (for the most part).
The other side of it is the fact that somebody is going to enjoy what I’ve created, possibly even developing an emotional connection to it. I never cease to be amazed by this intersection of myself, my art, and the people who connect with it.
What sources of inspiration do you draw upon to put yourself in such a consistently creative space?
This is a question that I get asked a lot, and I never feel like I give a solid answer. Mostly, I’m inspired by my current emotional state and the energy and emotions of the people around me – good or bad. Strong emotions of any sort create extremely strong energy, and I definitely feed off of it.
I’m also inspired by the people around me getting shit done every day. Philadelphia has no shortage of this. I don’t like feeling that I’m not working as hard or as intelligently as I’m capable of. I can be very hard on myself that way.
Then it’s just the day to day… what’s going on around me, what I see going on in other places. The world is full inspirational content. (more…)
