When I was writing for the now sadly defunct Red Bull culture site, ChinaShop Magazine, I went to my first (and thusfar ONLY) Fashion Week party a couple of years ago. This up and coming band called Awol Nation was playing the party because they were a Red Bull artist, and their CD was all up in the gift bags. I was like, meh. Whatever. Wasn’t particularly impressed.
This morning, I couldn’t get their song “Sail” out of my head. It’s funny how a couple of years can change things!
Today’s Song of the Day is “Sail” by Awol Nation. Enjoy!
So Olga, one of my good friends from NYC, has been visiting L.A. this week and we’ve been having a great time. One of the events we went to was Unique L.A, a really great marketplace for products by local artisans where they sell sustainable and eco-friendly wares. I wrote it up for ChinaShop, so you can check out my list of fabulous local L.A. businesses to support!
Excerpt:
Unique L.A. is a marketplace where over 325 specially-curated vendors gather to bring you the best in locally-made goods. Everything from up-cycled clothing, to ethically made jewelry, to housewares, food, and bath products made from natural ingredients can be found at the two-day event. Unique L.A. is actually one of many shows run by Unique, which also has similar events in San Francisco and New York.
Lest you think that you have to drop a pretty penny to enjoy yourself, there are two areas for Free Refreshments where you can have several beverages and a whole meal made up entirely of free samples. With a DJ spinning a fun and eclectic mix all day, and activities like Caine’s Arcade, a photo area where you can have free portraits taken by Oh, Snap! Studios, and a DIYDS craft table sponsored by the Craft and Folk Art Museum, you can have a great day out without breaking the bank. The best part? Even if you don’t buy a thing at the event, 10% of your entrance fee supports a local charity! For example, this weekend’s event supported CicLAvia, an organization that “makes the streets safe for people to walk, skate, play and ride a bike,” regularly providing much-needed traffic-free public spaces. Oh, and you get a cute, free tote bag designed by a local artist, so that’s pretty sweet.
For the full write up, to leave a comment on the post, or to vote (click on the tea cups at the bottom!), CLICK HERE!
One of my favorite things about being a writer is getting to profile people I really, really like. Over at ChinaShop today is my profile of the hugely talented Cheeks, aka Brad Bell who, among other things, is the creator and star of the hit web series, Husbands.
Excerpt:
If you don’t already know Cheeks, you should. Since September 2008, his YouTube channel has amassed almost 12,000 subscribers and over 2 million views. He has music on iTunes, including the hilarious “They Call Me Cheeks,” and very active Twitter account (@GoCheeksGo). These days, Cheeks has been getting lots of attention for his web series, Husbands, the first gay marriage sitcom.
Brad Bell knew that when he moved out to Hollywood from Texas that he wasn’t going to follow the same path as everybody else. “I knew that I wasn’t going to drive around town with my headshot and be all I can play this role! I can do that! I’m this guy! Because I’m not every guy, you know? I’m a specific type. So when I got here, I wanted to figure out What am I gonna do differently? What’s a different way into this machine? And it took a couple of years to figure out. YouTube came out as a website that people knew about and were using I think, like, two years after I moved [to L.A.]. That’s when I was like, Okay, there are people putting themselves out there in front of thousands of people on their own platform. I can do that. And I still audition for stuff, but I didn’t feel the need, that it was my only way in.”
For the full article, to vote (click the little tea cups at the bottom!), or to comment on the post, CLICK HERE!
Me, Tom Merrit, Veronica Belmont, and Felicia Day at WonderCon 2012.
Better late than never! ChinaShop was severely backlogged due to SXSW and Fashion Week coverage, and so my WonderCon post has gone up today. But that’s a good thing! Because now, I can have your attention all to myself! HA!
Yeah, that’s it. This was all part of my DASTARDLY PLAN. Ahem. Here’s an excerpt from “WonderCon 2012: Comic-Con International Comes to Anaheim.”
Excerpt:
This was a first for WonderCon, which usually takes place in San Francisco. Renovations at the Moscone Center necessitated the move, but allowed those in the Los Angeles area easier access to SDCC’s sister convention, giving more L.A. geeks the chance to attend a well-run show with a great track record closer to home. It’s surprising that, despite L.A’s large and active geek community, not to mention all the high-profile geeks that live here, that they have so few conventions that cater specifically to the L.A. market. While it’s likely that WonderCon will return to the Moscone next year, I’m curious about the numbers and whether or not the show had more or less traffic this year. (Official numbers have yet to be released) It would be great if Comic-Con International spread the con love all over California. SDCC in San Diego, APE in San Francisco, and WonderCon in Anaheim would be a nice spread.
For the rest of the post, great photos by Emily Heyer, or to comment and vote (click on the little teacups at the bottom so I know you’ve been!), CLICK HERE.
My latest Geek Girl Traveler post is up over at China Shop Magazine! In it, I tell you all about one of Seattle’s greatest geek destinations, the EMP Museum, home of Battlestar Galactica: The Exhibition (until March 4th), Avatar: The Exhibition, and the largest collection of Nirvana memorabilia ever assembled.
Excerpt:
There’s nothing quite like standing in front of Caprica Six’s iconic red dress, or Starbuck’s flight suit. Or, the TWO FULL-SIZED VIPERS and the FULL-SIZED CYLON RAIDER on display. You might be tempted to jump into these awesome vehicles, but as the signs all over the exhibit say, “Don’t touch the frakking artifacts!”
For the full article, CLICK HERE. And if you’ve got any comments, leave them over at the post! Don’t forget to vote (click on the little teacups at the bottom of the article), and stay tuned for more Geek Girl Traveling!
I can’t believe it’s Thanksgiving already! Where has the year gone? This year is a strange one for me. It’s not the first time I haven’t been able to spend Thanksgiving with my family. It’s not even the first time I’ve been in another state on Thanksgiving (in 2003, I spent Thanksgiving in a TGIFriday’s in Ohio, I think, with my castmates/crew in a children’s production of Babes in Toyland with which I was touring. No, it’s not my cast in the video, but I performed that same show – I played Widow Piper.). It is, however, the first Thanksgiving where my being apart from my family and close friends has an air of permanence about it. Like, This is how it’s going to be from now on. It’s strange. Not sad, just weird.
However, one of my new friends here in Los Angeles – the lovely Emily, along with her BF, Phillip – has invited me over for the big meal today, which I thought was really sweet. So, that’s where I’ll be enjoying my turkey.
I love Thanksgiving, because it always forces me to stop and acknowledge the things for which I’m grateful. It’s so easy to forget that such things exist, isn’t it? We spend a lot of time focusing on the bad things, but if we all sat down and thought about it, I’m sure we could each come up with at least 5 things for which we’re thankful. Here are mine:
1) MY BROTHER AND SISTER
I’m grateful for them particularly this year as they’ve supported me through my transition to the West Coast. First, I got the Are You Sure You Want To Do This? talks. Then I got the No, Really. You Have No Money talk. Then I got the Well, You’ve Made Up Your Mind, Haven’t You talks. Then the I’m Worried About You talks. Then, not a day went by when my sister didn’t make some reference to missing me, or me not leaving on Facebook (ie: Well, that’s what you get for leaving New York! Or, You’re leaving! Waaaaah!) Then, on the last day I saw my family before leaving for California, my brother slipped me a $100 bill as he said goodbye to me.
My mom has passed away, and my dad’s in a nursing home. I’ve gotten a lot of the “parental” support I need later in my life from my brother and sister. If I was going to be born to two people late in life, I’m lucky that a brother and a sister came before me. They’ve been like parents to me, and we’ve also become really good friends. I’m so grateful for that. Thank you, Kenny and Janette! I love you!
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2) MY OLD FRIENDS
I have the best friends in the world. Yeah, I said it. I know you think your friends are better, but they’re not. ‘Cause mine are.
Seriously, though, I know amazing people. People I have been able to be completely vulnerable around, knowing they won’t think less of me. People who’ve saved my life in a very real sense by lending me money, cooking me meals, letting me sleep on couches, treating me to nights out, listening to my woes, and keeping me sane as I try to navigate this crazy artist life I’m trying to lead. People who call me on my bullshit.
As I left New York, I stepped away from 32 years of powerful relationships. As I arrived in L.A, I was able to make a little nest for myself in the home of an old friend who is one of the kindest people I know. I’m so lucky to have such quality people in my life. Thank you! I love you all so muc
3) MY NEW FRIENDS
As I’ve mentioned before, L.A. has been very welcoming. I’ve been invited to parties, and mixers, and dinner parties galore. I’ve been given rooms to sleep in, meals, and rides. Lots of rides. I’ve been treated with so much kindness – kindness that couldn’t be repaid, except with kindness – that I wonder where those stories of L.A. folks being excessively self-serving came from. Maybe I’ve just been really lucky. Whatever. I’ll take it. I know good people out here, and I’m looking forward to getting to know them even better. We’re already off to a wonderful start! Thank you, you lovely people!
4) MY WEBSITES
They let me write for them. They give me creative freedom. They listen to me when I make suggestions or have new ideas. They’re really, really nice to the people that write for them, giving them lots of little perks, or treating them to outings/events. But most importantly, they pay the people that write for them. Too often, we complain about the outlets that don’t pay their writers, but we don’t praise the ones that do. So, I’d like to give a shout-out to two of them. Thank you, ChinaShop Magazine and Tor.com! Thank you for being great employers edited and staffed by really great people. I’m a lucky duck to write for such fine folks.
Bob in Kenya. Those kids are all, "So...you've never seen the sun before?"
5) MY “JOB”/APPRENTICESHIP
As I’ve mentioned here before, I’ve become assistant to writer, Bob Harris, who is currently working on what’s shaping up to be an awesome book on microfinance and Kiva for Bloomsbury. I’m really grateful for this relationship, not just for the obvious reasons. I mean, yes, he’s a really cool, genuinely kind person with whom I hope I can become better friends. Yes, he can totally answer my career-type questions as I’m figuring all this writing crap out. But more important than that, he keeps me conscious of how I want to use my art to change the world. Just by watching him work, I remember that it is possible to use the talents I was born with to do for others and to leave the world better than I found it, and I’m inspired to continue thinking about ways to combine my love of writing with my love of humanity. That’s something that’s always been important to me. It’s nice to be able to work with someone to whom it’s also important and who’s a walking example of how to go about doing it. That’s the part I’m really grateful for. So, thanks Bob! As role models go, you’re not a bad one.
Wow. I just realized that I’m pretty much thankful for one big thing – the people in my life. This was just 5 different categories of people, wasn’t it? But do you see how lucky I am? I have so many amazing people to be thankful for, they can be organized into categories.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope your holiday is filled with wonderful people, amazing food, and plenty of time to sit around with your pants unbuttoned afterwards. I, for one, will be watching the Lady Gaga Thanksgiving special later tonight. Because I’m also thankful for crazy performance artists who write catchy pop tunes.
In an attempt to keep track of my online writing shenannigans without bombarding you with a blog post every single time I post something, I’m only going to post them once a week. On Tuesdays. Because my name starts with a T (and NOT a “Th” as so many people seem to insist), and I’m a fan of alliteration, dammit.
If someone can come up with a T-word to replace “round-up” that would be great. My brain is tired today.
So, here are my links for this past week (9/15-9/20):
CHINASHOP MAGAZINE POST: SEPT. 20! A Geek Fashion column about the wonderful people at Black Phonenix Alchemy Lab. Share! Tweet! Rate! Comment! The more views my articles get, the more cashdollars I get, and a paid Teresa is a happy Teresa (is a Teresa who can then write more cool shit for you to read!).
TOR.COM POST: SEPT 20! “Celebrate CAPRICA Day in October!” An article about the new DVD boxed set of Caprica as well as the Caprica Season 1.5 premiere! Also includes a little promo video I had way too much fun making.
I’ll leave you with the other promo video I made, which needs to be shown some love (even if it does use recycled Chuck Norris/Jack Bauer jokes):
Housing issues aside, this has been a stellar week in the life of one Teresa Ann Jusino!
This would have been made of SO MUCH WIN!
Sadly, The Golden Guys was canceled! That, plus my not being able to organize a reading out there means that my trip to LA (AKA, TeresaCon 2010) is no mas. HOWEVER, this is a good, considering that I hadn’t yet bought my plane ticket (the ticket I purchased for the show remains a donation to the LA Gay & Lesbian Center), and with the move and everything being so uncertain, me not traveling right now is probably for the best (though I was planning on writing about the show for two outlets and making the money I spent on the trip back). I will have to meet future colleagues Jane Espenson and Sasha Roiz some other time. And now, I have more moving money.
Vincent Kartheiser and Alessandra Torresani
My blog has been selected from hundreds of blogs to be a part of The Printed Blog‘s Blogger Network! What’s The Printed Blog? It’s a weekly, print publication that will include the best of the web. I submitted my blog for consideration, because I thought it was such a cool idea! As much of a social media whore as I am, I hate reading things on a computer (or computer-like device). Call me an environment-destroying old lady, but I’d rather have something I’m reading printed in front of me. If you’re the same, or if you just want a coterie of awesome editors seeking out the best of the web and sending it to your door so you don’t have to go hunting for it, this is for you!
How it works: now that I’m a part of their network, they’ll be checking out my blog every week, and if they see a post they like, they’ll pay me for the privilege of printing it. Thing is, I’d get paid a percentage of the money that comes in from subscriptions. Check out the site, and if you think this publication is quality (seriously, you should get it for the Tyler Shields-curated photos alone!), SUBSCRIBE! It’s only $9.95 a month, and you get weekly issues. It’s a totally new, blogger-focused business model that I think could do really well if given the chance. Help give it that chance, y’all! Subscribe, or help spread the word!
I’ve just accepted a position as a member of the Best Shots comic review team at Newsarama! This is very, very cool indeed. I got a random Facebook message from their Best Shots editor saying he was a “fan of my work”, because he’d been reading my Comic Round-Ups over at Pink Raygun, and asked if I’d be interested in joining their team! To say I was flattered is an understatement. I’ll mostly be doing the Best Shots Rapid-Fire reviews on Thursdays for a while just to get my feet wet, then I hope to jump to other days of the week. Best part? FREE COMICS. Which is great, because I’m broke, and my comics habit has already taken a severe hit. My first Rapid-Fire reviews will hit September 2nd!
I haven’t been doing much writing lately, because of my impending move and my crazed job search, but next week expect to see a flurry of wordy activity from my corner of the world. Between the National Hispanic Media Coalition Writing Program I’m entering, the release of my upcoming chapbook, ChinaShop,Tor, PinkRaygun, Newsarama, and tending more to this blog to create content worthy of The Printed Blog, I’m going to be a busy (and paid!) bee in the coming weeks. And there’s also The Pack, which is the next fiction project I have on the docket after I submit my Castle spec script for the writing program…
To quote B.O.B:
These tricks that I’ll attempt will blow your mind
Pick a verse, any verse, I’ll hypnotize you with every line
I’ll need a volunteer, how about you, with the eyes?
Come on down to the front, and stand right here and don’t be shy
I’ll have you time-travellin’, have your mind babblin’
People tryna inherit the skill so they askin’ me
Even David Blaine had to go and take some classes, and
I see Mindfreak , I’m like, “What’s up man, what’s happenin’? ”
It’s like he and Rivers Cuomo wrote “Magic” with me in mind!
The title of this post totally just made me think of Animaniacs:
Today had the comic dichotomy of a Good Idea/Bad Idea sketch.
GOOD NEWS:
ChinaShop Magazine has decided that they want me to be a regular columnist! Not just decided, but decided enthusiastically! Check out what my new editor had to say about my post on Tara Reich:
Hey Teresa,
Your post has done phenomenally well. Its not even been 7 days and already you are over 3100 views. Not only am I happy to pay you $XXX for this article, but you have earned a bonus of $XX for getting over 1,000 views within the first 7 days of publishing. Well done.
EEEK! So, thank you ALL so much for checking out the article and passing the link along! You’ve all helped me toward a regular writing gig! I hope I can continue to bring you posts that interest or entertain you! Also, if you or anyone you know does anything in any medium (visual art, film, TV, web, fashion, theater, etc) where the geeky meets the mainstream, let me know about it! Your suggestion might be the next thing I write about for ChinaShop!
BAD NEWS:
Housing just keeps falling through for me. I’m still staying with my friends Robyn and Jerry in Brooklyn for the month of September. However, moving next door to my landlords’ place has fallen through, because there was a misunderstanding about what part of the house was actually being rented to me. As it turns out, just the bottom part. So, it would be only three roommates instead of five splitting the $2,500/month rent, and I can’t afford that. Next, I thought I’d be able to sublet my housemate Lindsay’s new place as of October for at least six months if not more, because she’s going to Italy for work (I know, right?!), but that fell through, too, as her new roommates already had a subletter lined up. As of this moment, I have an email out to a possible roommate lead, and the month of September to figure out my living situation. I’m selling pretty much all of my belongings, save a few that I’ll try to keep in a small storage unit. Here’s hoping that I a) find a place, or b) get into the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s writing program, and that they love me and find me a job right away after the program is over.
Otherwise, I might consider Jules’ life plan in Pulp Fiction:
GOOD NEWS:
I rocked my job interview today for a position as a writing tutor at a community college in NYC. The dean there seemed to be enthusiastic about me, and my friend, who got me the interview, seems hopeful about my chances! However, now it’s a matter of their budget and whether they can afford to hire me. I feel good about it though. This, plus my new, regular babysitting job, which starts September 13th, plus my writing gigs will keep me more than afloat. Fingers crossed!
BAD NEWS:
It was rainy today, and dealing with various leaks and floods made me late to said job interview. It was just a generally dreary day. However, as it didn’t really affect the interview, I guess I really shouldn’t count this as bad news.
But I like symmetry in my blog posts. There’s lots of positives in my life, and all I can do now is continue moving forward. The second half of 2010 has big things in store for me, I can feel it! I just have to be ready to greet them with open arms!
And as Animaniacs taught us all, the Bad Ideas may have been bad, but they were also where the comedy was. Good News is great, but the story is in the Bad News.
If it gets 500 views in the next 7 days, I get paid for it AND get a contract to write my Geek Lifestyle column for them! So go on over and have a look! And if you’re into cosplay, definitely hit up Tara Reich! You can hire her for custom work, and as you’ll see from the photos in the article and on her website, she’s crazy talented.
And now, I have more moving money.
