Teresa’s Tuesday Round-Up: 10/19/10

What’s up, homies?! Told you this feature would be back. In fact, the reason why it hasn’t been here is because NYCC ate me alive, and I’ve been writing my face off. Here are the scribblings that made it to the web within the past week:

GEEK THEATER REVEW OF CIRCUS OF CIRCUS: OCT. 14! Head over to Pink Raygun for my review of a creative, intriguing theatrical adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

NYCC PANEL SPOTLIGHT: IMAGE COMICS WRITERS PANEL: OCT. 14! Check out my write-up of one of the most entertaining and informative writing panels I’ve ever been to at a con over at Tor.com!

BEST SHOTS RAPID-FIRE REVIEWS: OCT. 14! Check out my latest rapid-fire reviews at Newsarama. I review Knight & Squire #1 and Superior #1.

CAPRICA: S1.5, EP 10 – RETRIBUTION: OCT. 14! My Tor.com review of the most recent episode of Caprica! (And, you’ll be watching the new episode TONIGHT, right?)

So, October 14th was a really big day for Teresa Jusino, huh? Comic Con was over on the 10th, and I was banging out these articles all while I recovered from three consecutive late nights of daily con write-ups. BOO YA! I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself this past week. There is more NYCC coverage coming – in fact, my NYCC Panel Spotlight of the James Marsters panel hit today – as well as the review of tonight’s episode of Caprica.

That’s a lot of scribbling to keep up with! If you want to always be in the loop, go on and “Like” my Facebook Fan Page!

Also, don’f forget that my short story chapbook, ON THE GROUND FLOOR, is available for purchase! Click the link to the right, and get your copy today!

Lastly, keep your eyes peeled here. There will be big news and new endeavors announced soon!

Happy Caprica Day!

IT’S BACK!

After way too long a hiatus, Caprica is finally back on television TONIGHT! 10PM on SyFy.  Tune in, and watch it live if you’re around!  (Tonight’s episode is airing 7 times this week on the SyFy schedule, so there’s other opportunities to watch it live, too!) In this case, fast forwarding through commercials = cancelation.  Besides, you should be USING those commercial breaks as they were intended to be used!  Go to the bathroom.  Make yourself a post-dinner sandwich! 

Seriously, I know I talk about this show a lot, but that’s because it’s good.  And actually, I want to send a special shout out to the non-geeks among you.  Those of you who tune in here in support of my other writing.  Caprica is a sci-fi show, but it’s one that you would like.  Yes, there’s robots (Cylons – learn the word!), and cool technology, but other than that, Caprica holds up a great mirror to the world in which we live.  Problems with religious fundamentalism?  Check.  Living as a member of two cultures and two societies? Check. Society being torn apart by rapidly-advancing technology? Check.  It’s an intelligent show; something that’s kind of rare these days.  The show has great writing, stellar performances, and it makes you think.  It’s the perfect sci-fi show for a non-sci-fi fan.  A lot of Battlestar fans complain that Caprica isn’t moving “fast enough.”  Not enough viper scenes, I guess.  That’s because this series isn’t ABOUT that.  It’s about something else entirely, and if you’re a Battlestar fan and value storytelling and world-building over explosions and guns, then you should be watching, too!

Although from what I hear, this half of the season is RIFE with explosions and guns (and swordfighting!) in addition to the other stuff.  So, you shouldn’t be disappointed on that front, either.

The point is, give it a whirl.  And if you’re GOING to give it a whirl, give it a whirl in a way that might help.  If you watch it online, click on some of the ads.  If you watch it on television, watch it when it’s on and don’t fast forward through commercials.  Yes, I know – advertising is annoying.  But honestly, you don’t have to pay attention to it. I don’t.

Need to catch up?  SyFy is running a Caprica marathon all day today! Though I won’t need it, because I’ll be buying my CAPRICA S1.0 DVD BOXED SET today! You know there’ll be a review of that…

Need more convincing? Check out my interview with Sasha Roiz  at Pink Raygun today! It’s more than just an interview, it’s an EXPERIENCE. One which is set in the world of Caprica. Seriously, he’s a cool guy, and Caprica is worth it for his character, Sam Adama, ALONE.

Still need convincing? Check out the promo videos I made and put up on YouTube…because I’m a nerd:

Joseph Adama Vs. Sam Adama

To Be a Cylon…

Lastly, if you’re watching on the East Coast tonight, I’ll be live tweeting!  Join me!  The hashtag I’ll be using is #CapricaET.

Happy Caprica Day!  Woot!

Teresa’s Tuesday Round-Up: 9/28/10

Sure, it’s not technically Tuesday anymore…but I haven’t gone to bed yet, so this still fucking counts.

Here’s my week in scribbles (9/21-9/27):

BEST SHOTS RAPID-FIRE REVIEWS: SEPT 23! Featuring my reviews of Black Widow #5 and Ultimate Spider-Man #14 (Marvel)

SEX AND THE SINGLE GEEK GIRL: CEE-LO IS A HATER! I love Cee-Lo’s song, “Fuck You”, and I love his video…mostly.  What I don’t love is how the video disses geek girls.  Read why!

DR. SKETCHY WRITE-UP AT TRAZZLER! So, I’ve entered a contest at Trazzler for a sweet writing contract.  I love travel, and this job would send me on a trip to cover the Hudson Valley and would pay $1,200.  Wanna help me land the gig? Go to the link, vote it up, and “save” it to your Trazzler trips.  Thanks!

Until next week! 

Revisions, Rants, and Reviews

This pic has nothing to do with anything. It's just awesome. ME AND A DHARMA VAN!

REVISIONS

As in, the ones to my life. I’ve just turned 31, I’m officially a freelancer, and 3 weeks in, I’m starting to feel it.  More about that in its own post, but it’s the reason why I haven’t been posting here much.  That’s going to change, as I want this blog to be an extension of my writing as well as a record of the life of a newbie taking on the professional writing world.  I’m going to update more often.  So there. 

RANTS

I’ve written a couple of rants recently – all for Pink Raygun.  Heh. Lisa, Pink Raygun’s fearless editor, must be rubbing off on me.  In any case, there were some issues in geekdom about which I needed to comment.  First, there were a couple of articles I came across about how comic books have “ruined” film.  They inspired me to write “In Defense of Comics…AGAIN.” If you’re curious about how I feel about the contribution of comics to the artistic discussion, you should check that one out.

And then there was the hubbaloo over Donald Glover possibly being considered to be the new Spider-Man in the new movies.  Issues of race, ethnicity, and geeky stories obviously resonate with me.  Check out “Donald Glover = Band-Aid. Creating Minority Superheroes = CURE.”

REVIEWS

And then, there are my reviews, mostly at Tor, but there’s one from Pink Raygun as well – the newest Geek Theater review of St. Nicholas at the Workshop Theater in NYC.  Over at Tor, I tackled the issue of race in geeky properties yet again in my review of The Last Airbender called “The Last Airbender: Caucasians Out of Their Element?” And then, there are my Doctor Who reviews: “The Hungry Earth”/”Cold Blood” & “Vincent and The Doctor.”

I continue to be a busy bee, bringing my Feminist Brown Person take on pop culture to you from as many different outlets as will let me!  And so, the Freelance Writer adventure continues…

Vampirrific!

Hello all!  I’ve got a couple of new links for you from the past week.  Interestingly, I’ve had vampires on the brain lately:

One of my favorite shows on the planet, TRUE BLOOD, is back for its third season, and it started off with a bang!  You can read my review of the season premiere for Pink Raygun HERE.  A piece about Episode 2 is coming soon…but you can keep yourself entertained until then by watching this:

And now, we move from vampires on television, to vampires in the theater…

One of my favorite indie theater companies in NYC, Nosedive Productions, has started its tenth anniversary season with an original production called The Little One, about the relationship between a young vampire and her maker.  I interviewed playwright, James Comtois, for Tor.com, which you can read HERE, and I interviewed director, Pete Boisvert, for Pink Raygun, which you can read HERE.  It looks like a great play – I’m seeing it this week, and there’ll be a review shortly thereafter – so definitely check it out if you can!

And lastly, some comics stuff that has nothing to do with vampires at all!  Check out what I thought of last week’s comics haul by checking out my weekly Comics Round-Up column over at Pink Raygun!

STILL TO COME:

** a review of the Doctor Who two-parter most recently aired on BBC America (get off my back, UK!  I KNOW the Pandorica opened, and I.  DON’T.  CARE!)

** a review of S3, Ep2 of True Blood (can I just say how much I love Jessica?  Because I really, really do.  Also – Eric needs to stop getting hot, or I’m going to pass out.)

** Comics Round-Up for the week of 6/16

** write-ups about Molly Crabapple’s t-shirt launch for Pink Raygun and Tor

** a post about the Nerd Girls reality show auditions for Tor

** interviews with YA sci-fi writer, George Sirois; sci-fi writer, Kat Howard; comics creator, Nathan Schrieber; and comics creator, Zane Grant and his comics creator/actress sister, Brea.

** and a piece about the comic, Young Allies, and judging a book by its cover.

Stay tuned!

Amy’s Choice and Comics Picks

Here I am, trying to get back into the habit of keeping a running record of my written work here at the blog!  I suppose the fact that it’s difficult to keep up with all of it is a good thing, right? 

After a week off of Doctor Who due to the Memorial Day weekend, “Amy’s Ch9ice” aired on BBC America on Saturday, and my review of it can now be found at Tor.com.  Check it out HERE.

The holiday weekend also affected comics, which came out on Thursday last week instead of the usual Wednesday.  Not that that had anything to do with my Comics Round-Up going up at Pink Raygun so late, mind you.  THAT can be chalked up to my own laziness!  In any case, if you want to know what I thought of last week’s comics, check out my Comics Round-Up for the week of 6/2 HERE.

Coming soon (hopefully): long overdue book reviews, and a Tor article in response to a ridiculous article about women and science that I read yesterday.  Ranting ahoy!

Paul Cornell, and Dazzler, and Vampires, Oh My!

It’s getting more and more difficult to keep a running record of what I’m up to on this blog, because it’s all happening so goshdarned fast!  And before you mention Twitter or Facebook, it’s hard for me to keep a running record there, too, because most of the time I get caught up in conversations with other people.  There’s just SO MUCH GOING ON!  But I’m here now, right? 

So, an interview I did with Paul CornellAction Comics (Lex Luthor, what?!) and his first-ever television pilot for a show called Pulse, which is airing on BBC3 was posted on Pink Raygun today!  It’s to promote both his taking over writing duties for in the UK TOMORROW NIGHT AT 9PM.  So, you know, if you’ve stumbled onto this blog and live in the UK, check it out tomorrow night – or you can watch it online right now.  Either way, let BBC3 know what you think of it.  Especially if you like it!  I’m counting on you lot, as you have to get it to series first before I can see it on this side of The Pond.  Woot!

In other Pink Raygun scribblings, you might want to check out my Comics Round-Up for the Week of 5/26!  Marvel (get it?) at how I lavish praise on Angel and Batman whilst simultaneously ripping Dazzler and the Mystery Society new ones!  If you’re looking for new comics to read, this weekly column of mine would be a great place to start!

And lastly, there’s my most recent Doctor Who review!  There was no new Who on BBC America this past Saturday, because of the holiday, but you can jump in on the conversation in the comments under my review of “The Vampires of Venice” at Tor.com!

Enjoy!

PinkRaygun.com Post: “Comics Round-Up: Week of 4/7″

Check out my latest Comics Round-Up over at Pink Raygun!  You know you all live and die by my opinion…

EXCERPT:

So, I was in the comic shop yesterday (Cosmic Comics on E. 23rd Street in NYC for those who want to find me on Wednesday afternoons), and there are these two guys standing in front of the new releases chatting away and taking up space. Says one to the other: “God, there’s nothing out this week that I give a f#!@ about.” They continue to stand there and converse as I’m reaching around them grabbing titles off the shelves: Demo, Buffy, Sweet Tooth…

Now ask me if they moved at all to give me easier access to the shelves.

If that’s not the quintessential image of Female Comics Fan In A Comic Shop, I don’t know what is!

And with that, here are my reviews for the week…

For the full article, CLICK HERE.

Pink Raygun Post: “Comics Round-Up: Week of 3/31″

Interested in my thoughts on this week’s comics?  Check out the latest Comics Round-Up over at Pink Raygun!

EXCERPT:

This week was a really light comics week, and if I’m being completely honest, not a great one in terms of story quality. Several of my favorite titles were in stores this week, and yet most seemed to be at a boring point in their story arcs. It’s a shame, though I suppose these are the issues we have to get through to get to the good stuff, right? Right?!

For the full column, CLICK HERE.

Pink Raygun Post: “Comics Round-Up: Week of 3/24″

Cover of Air #19

Like I said yesterday, I’ve missed writing regularly about comics.  (Also, me writing regularly about comics means I can deduct comics purchases off my taxes!  HOLLA!) So, I’ve started up my comics column again over at Pink Raygun – Comics Round-Up!  It’s pretty much just me reviewing what I buy every week, but I have an eclectic taste, and who knows?  You just might be introduced to something you like!  Check it out!

EXCERPT:

SCALPED #36

Vertigo

This issue was close to being my Comic Spotlight this week. I’ve been a huge fan of this crime drama set on an Indian reservation since Issue #1, but writer, Jason Aaron’s been bringing his A+ game lately. I didn’t think it could get any better than last week’s Issue #35, a standalone about an elderly couple and their history on the rez. Issue #36, however, is even more fascinating. It focuses on Shunka, hit-man/bodyguard to Red Crow, the crime boss and casino owner through whom everything on the reservation operates. When Shunka is sent to “deliver a message” on Red Crow’s behalf to a rival casino owner, he meets someone who forces him to reveal an essential truth about himself. He’s gay. From there, we get a fascinating character study and an examination of how the Lakota currently and historically view LGBT people. This is the first issue in a two-part story called “A Fine Action of an Honorable and Catholic Spaniard” (the title makes sense. Promise.)

For the full column, CLICK HERE!