Geekery | Rebecca Thomas Designs

Girls write comics? Since when?

Feb 272009

This afternoon, I went to Barnes and Noble to see if a book I ordered three weeks ago, Panel One: Comic Scripts by Top Writers, was in yet. It turns out I’d never received the email notification, and the book had been pulled yesterday to be sent back to the warehouse…except it hadn’t been put away correctly, and the woman trying to locate it for me had to call the woman who manages holds to find the book for me.

When I went to check out, the woman who manages the holds happened to be at the register. She never said anything, but her eyes widened when she saw the book. She rang it up, and then politely asked me if I needed a gift receipt.

I was furious. Absolutely furious.

Fortunately, I’m still sick. I couldn’t manage much more than a snarky smile and confidently told her it wasn’t a gift. Again, she said nothing, but her face held such a look of surprise.

By the time we got to the house, I was fuming. My partner in all crimes of the geeky girl persuasion (otherwise known as artist Dena Neal) happened to be walking out as we were walking in, and I told her the whole story.

Now, you have to understand…Dena is a fellow manga fan, the illustrator for two of my future projects, and she’s working on launching her web comic. And she was just as irritated as I was. (Another girl was walking up as I told Dena what had happened, and she couldn’t believe it, either.)

To make matters worse, all of the contributing authors are listed on the front of the book, and one of them is Trina Robbins.

I honetly didn’t think I still lived in a world where it was completely unheard of for a woman to write comic books (or graphic novels). Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’ve just lived in the Geek Underworld for too long.

Oh, well. It turns out there’s a Panel Two, so I think I’ll just order it from Amazon.

That’s one way to lose fans

anthropology View Comments

Oct 122007

There’s been this huge to-do around many of the geeky girl, feminist, and geeky girl feminists blogs this week about an interesting statement coming out of Warner Brothers. Apparently, one of the higher-ups came out and said Warner Brothers would not be making any more action movies where the lead character was female. (If I remember correctly, Warner Brothers is the studio currently working on Wonder Woman. Without a female lead, that action movie should be very interesting. *grin*)

Naturally, the geeky girls, the feminists, and the geeky girl feminists went off. It managed to intimidate Warner Brothers enough to then come back and claim that they never said they weren’t going to make any more action movies with female leads. Apparently, they have three movies with female leads in the works for next year. You may notice, as many have, that they never actually say they have three action movies with female leads planned next year, which will neatly let them off the hook when this becomes an issue again a year from now (because you know it’s not going to die quietly).

Truthfully, there have been some action movies that have tanked over the past few years. In most cases, though, I think nearly everyone would agree that what caused the movie to tank wasn’t the fact that there was a female lead. It was the fact that either the writing was poor, or whatever material was being adapted was adapted very poorly (a complaint that covers male-led action movies, as well).

It should be interesting to watch this play out over the next year or so… Maybe in the meantime, we can come up with a way to keep action movies (original or adaptation) from sucking, regardless of the gender of the lead.

The quest to relocate the inner geek

finding my path View Comments

Apr 142007

I started a post about six weeks after I got to Seattle that began, “If the past few years have been the complete destruction of everything that made me the person people liked to have around, the past few weeks have been this incredible quest after my true identity.” It fell apart after that because I was so overwhelmed by connecting with people with similar interests.

I’ve floated in and out of groups over the past couple of years, but it’s amazing how many little bits of myself have resurfaced, have allowed me to reclaim them. It’s been kind of fun, but it’s also been kind of scary. I’m so afraid of waking up and finding out I’m a fraud, but I also seem to be afraid of allowing myself to embrace things I truly love.

I spend a lot of time apologizing for who I am, for my existence.

But I get picked on by my friends when I swear I’m not a geek, but throw a game back at my roommate, letting him know it’s completely unlocked for him now, when I spew random cartoon facts, when I reference science fiction movies.

I’m a geek…of many flavors, and I need to be okay with that. It’s who I am.

Happy Pi Day!

teaching View Comments

Mar 142007

Today is 3/14, the day some geeks like to call “Pi Day” because Pi’s numerical value starts with 3.14…

So, what is Pi? Pi, represented by the Greek letter ?, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

Try out this little experiment:

Find a number of flat circles in various sizes. These can be Tupperware lids, cans, glasses, bottles, etc.
Once you have a few, find a measuring tape (preferably a flexible one like the type you use in sewing).
Get a piece of paper and create three columns: “Circumference (C)”, “Diameter (d)”, “C/d”
Measure each circle’s circumference (the distance around the circle) and write that number in the circumference column.
Measure each circle’s diameter (the distance across a circle at its widest point) and write that number in the diameter column.
Do this for each circle.
Once you have your table filled in, divide each circle’s circumference by its diameter and write that number in the last column.

You may notice as you continue that the numbers are all right around 3.14. Despite the fact the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians were aware of approximations of Pi., the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes was the first to determine the actual value of Pi as a non-terminal, non-repeating decimal that begins 3.141592.

Go forth! Celebrate Pi Day (perhaps with a bit of pie?)!

Book review- She’s Such a Geek

books View Comments

Feb 252007

I was pretty excited when I first heard about She’s Such a Geek. Essays written by women who have more than flirted with math, science, engineering, writing, and gaming? I was so there!

In fact, I highly recommend it to my students. It’s that good.

I’ve also started reading the main blog, occasionally following links to an entry written by one of the author’s at her own blog. I have yet to be disappointed.

I’ve been wrestling with my own sense of geek ever since I moved to Washington. Once upon a time, I watched nearly every science fiction television show. I liked playing in the chem lab, even if I hated balancing equations. Despite a bad showing in both algebra and geometry, I did exceptionally well at precalculus and calculus. I’ve always played on any computer I came near…up until I got my own computer. Now I play on my laptop, and play on other computers if I don’t have my laptop handy. I’ve always played any nearby video game I could, even while not owning my own. (The boys fixed this at Christmas when they gave me my much-loved DS Lite.) I take great pride in the fact i was an informal science teacher, and would still drop everything to help kids explore science topics. I love being a math tutor, and laugh at the fact that girls who suffer from the mindset that girls can’t do math are often placed with me to help shake them of that horridly old-fashioned notion. It’s a rare day that goes by where I’m not watching anime, and the fact that I have three unread manga on my shelf scares people.

A lull in my access to gaming and the availability of decent sci-fi shows led me to this feeling that I was completely out of touch with all of it, and in fact had no right to claim any of that life I grew up with. My friends here often respond to something I do or say by simply saying, “Geek.” I fight it. I fight it tooth-and-claw. I really feel like I just can’t claim that at all, like I’m a fake.

She’s Such a Geek has actually changed my mind. Even if I did have that gap in my life experiences, it doesn’t change the fact that I have geek tendencies, that I am a geek. I’ve been slowly trying to make peace with the fact that I actually am a geek. The fact I’m not the same flavor or level of geek as my roommates or friends is immaterial because I am my own weird blend of geek that is still a valid form of geek.

I was a geek. I am a geek. I will forever be a geek. SSAG really helped me understand that.

Where it lost me is in the attempt of many of the essayists to come to terms with both their geekiness and their femininity. In so many cases, there was talk of sex (the act, not gender) was key to making or breaking their careers. At one point, one of the essayists left me asking the same questions I was asking of William Gibson’s Cayce Pollard. Why did I need to know about certian things that are inherent to being a woman simply because of human anatomy and biology? I get the gender issues. I was one of two girls in a gaming group (the best group of people I’ve ever hung with), I was the oddball girl in charge of the Pokemon League and my LARP chapter, but I was also one of the guys…even if the guys knew full well I was a girl. Maybe I just ran into the right groups of male gamers.

Women can do math, science, and technology. Fine. Good. I completely agree with that (because if I didn’t, I’d be a huge hypocrite). Women face old-fashioned, unfounded stereotypes. Yep. True story, and many of us have fought those in our own way. Women either have to completely suppress their sexuality or overwork it to get anywhere in a room full of guys. Um…check your calendars, ladies. While I have had a little too much fun using the fact I’m a girl to get things to happen within a gaming group, I have never needed much more than that to gain whatever power I’ve needed, and I’ve watched groups completely shredded by girls who have either suppressed or overused their sexuality.

It’s going to be hard to gain any sort of equal footing for both genders when the act of sex (both completely present and completely absent) continues to be such a major part of the equation.

Anyway, I’ve gone off on a tangent inspired by one of the last essays in the book. Just go read the book. Make the girls in your life read it. It’s worth it.

(Because I think it’s a bit funny, I’m sitting here watching one of my favorite movies, Contact, simply because I stumbled upon it while trying to find something else entirely. This is my idea of a chick flick!)

Pick a Geek

finding my path, productivity View Comments

Nov 052006

As a somewhat tech-savvy woman who is trying to run her business online, I actually handle a number of my technical needs myself. But for those tasks that are too big for me, I like to turn to one of my myriad geek friends.

That’s the nice part of being a geek girl. I have a ton of geeky friends who are in some degree smarter than me when it comes to computers. Therefore, I have a ton of people to turn to when something goes wrong or when something is over my head. Right?

I’ve learned something about getting outside help from my geek friends, actually, and that is it’s okay to be selective when looking for someone to come in to help you.

Some of my geek friends are only a step or three less clueless than I am, but because they’ve been playing on their computers forever, they think they can do anything with their computer. Even better, some of them specialize in a certain aspect of computers, which then makes them think they can handle anything on their computer.

Sadly, it takes a mistake (like the person who two weeks ago managed to screw up my scheduled tasks because he was just trying to be helpful by asserting his not-so-bright geekness over my computer) to weed out those who fit in the two above categories, but it’s started making me think about what makes the ones who I go to in a heartbeat stand out.

When looking for an outside geek to bring in, you ought to look for these things, too.

The best geeks

Are willing to admit when they don’t know something, but will look into it so they can help out and so they can learn more
Don’t spend the entire time they’re trying to help you by pushing pointless software on you
Don’t spend the entire time they’re trying to help you telling you how great they are with computers (or all the other computers they’ve fixed entirely different problems on)
Spend time keeping up with their industry by reading books, blogs, journals, trade magazines; or by attending confeences; or by doing both. (My favorite geek often shares articles he’s read with us.)

That last one is really important because there are always changes in the computer industry, and being behind can introduce some stupid errors into your own life.

It’s okay to be selective about your geek. In fact, it can save your computer from needing a trip to a different geek.

Is Lifehacker just common sense?

productivity View Comments

Mar 202006

I have become quite the fan of Lifehacker. I’ve learned how to use certain functions on my computer more efficiently. I’ve been introduced to software and plug-ins that are just fun!

Often, there will be hacks that are actually about productivity or organizing, and I’m just amazed at how they’re presented as these amazing new ideas…when it’s something I’ve been doing since I was a kid.

I’ve always been noted for being well-organized, and the only person to ever call me anal retentive is my mother. It does make me wonder what was said about me behind my back. I’ve just always embraced laziness through streamlining my life into the simplest paths possible.

Most people would tell you that I’m just making room to do twice as much, though.

My geek is showing…

designs I like View Comments

Mar 162006

I’ve often felt that my geek has been in hiding for the past few years, but it’s slowly coming out and making itself known again. (I probably need to update my geek code, even.)

I saw the Kotohana Emotion Flower, and it instantly made me think of the chameleon episode Wyatt gives Deanna Troi in an early Star Trek: the Next Generation episode.

I think the concept is awesome, and the flowers themselves are just pretty!

It’s official. My geek is back on duty!

A wish for a tech toy

productivity View Comments

Dec 052004

I used to have a Palm Pilot, but it completely died earlier this year. I loved my Palm Pilot. It kept my schedule, my to-do lists (organized by list, including my grocery list), my notes. At various points in time, it even held writings, including last year’s NaNoWriMo project from last year. That was one of my favorite features. I could handwrite on my Palm Pilot (because I write much more easily if I’m handwriting than typing) and then transfer it via the cradle to a computer. It worked rather well for me.

One of the reasons I really got my Palm Pilot was because I wanted to be able to do all of the above, plus be able to carry e-books on it. At that point in time, anything that allowed me to carry more with less space and weight was a happy thing. Unfortunately, I was never able to get an eReader to configure properly on it, and so my dreams of carrying eBooks kind of went out the window.

After volunteering with Project Gutenberg earlier this year , hearing all about the Bain Library, opening an account with NetLibrary, and reading this article this morning, I really want to get a new Palm Pilot and figure out how to configure the eReader.

It saves trees. It doesn’t add weight to my bag. It lets me read, which I love.

A wish for documentation

writing View Comments

Nov 142004

Every year, I learn a different lesson from participating in National Novel Writing Month. Two years ago (the first year I did NaNoWriMo), the lesson was: Document your daily word count. I didn’t heed that lesson last year. Then again, I fell ill and then got in over my head in workload at work last year and never made it past 5,000 words. Last year’s lesson was: Write as much as you can every time you sit down to write.

This year’s lesson is going to be: Document the NaNoWriMo experience.

Right now, I’m posting daily to my writing journal with the day’s word count and the chapter that corresponds to that day. There are occassional notes punctuating the posts, like on the first day when I realized this year’s novel was nothing at all like what I envisioned when I came up with the idea. I hated my novel. I’m not all that fond of it now, but as I am now over 60% through it, I feel compelled to finish it. (Constructive criticisms are welcome if you decide to peruse any of it. Please keep in mind that no editing takes place during NaNoWriMo, so there may be some problems in the current draft.)

What’s not documented at all is the life and world cropping up around me as I write or participate in affiliated activities. For example, I am currently engaged in a discussion over what constitutes a reality tv show and whether or not American Gladiators counts as one. (If you’re curious, my arugment is that it was not one.) Over the past two weeks, i have engaged in discussions about Star Trek and most of it spin-offs, Babylon 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a lot of computer geekery. Like a good geek grrl, I’ve managed to keep up with most of it and have held my own in debates, even in the computer arena. The only fannish conversation i didn’t participate in was the Backstreet Boys, and I think that’s forgivable.

I’ve made friends. I’ve gone out and done things with these friends. I’ve gone shopping, seen a movie, hung out in a game shop, and spent several hours in an arcade learning to play DDR. I’ve developed a new affinity for rubber ducks and power strips.

None of that is documented for the past fourteen days. Next year, there will be documentation, and it will be more than a five word excuse for why i didn’t write one day.

Categories

Meta

Girls write comics? Since when?

That’s one way to lose fans

The quest to relocate the inner geek

Happy Pi Day!

Book review- She’s Such a Geek

Pick a Geek

Is Lifehacker just common sense?

My geek is showing…

A wish for a tech toy

A wish for documentation

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