As some of you know, I worked at Felicia Day's former company Geek & Sundry for a time. I never worked with Joss, but I bumped into his sycophantic circle several times starting around 2016 and it became clear the really unhealthy culture he fostered. It reminded me, sadly, of Max Landis.
For the record, I do not blame or hold Felicia in the same esteem as the rest of his vultures. I truly felt bad for her as the man who basically discovered her was revealed to be a certain way.
Only interrupting or contributing to the flow to mention that this January, on the eve of my 43rd birthday (!!!) I too was diagnosed as Autistic.
Whatever cold comfort you can take, take this: going through this process of understanding ourselves in this way requires courage at any age, and you can take pride in knowing that it's still relatively early in your life that you are on this path of self discovery/acceptance/admiration/forgiveness.
New episode! We are joined by Amanda Spain, Director of ESPN 30 for 30's Wrestling the Curse and Son of South Sudan. We talk about her films and also discuss the single greatest doc ESPN has done, OJ: Made in America.
So yeah, Geek & Sundry's Open Beta wasn't just a lark. It was the longest interview process I've ever had. Felicia Day, Legendary DIgital VP Steven Hein, and Geek & Sundry General Manager Ryan Copple were pleased with my work, and offered my the gig as Subscription Content Producer for all of G&S content slated for ALPHA, a new subscription based, interactive channel. I start officially in July, and we plan to enter a closed Beta period later this year. In the meantime, you can go to http://alphainvite.com/ to sign up for early access.
The center of the venn diagram between being a dork and a jock is much bigger than you might think. We set out to prove that with our final Open Beta show, MAX HIT POINTS, a fitness show in the guise of an RPG campaign. Really, there was exactly one choice to host this and that's Blair Herter and his team at Nerdstrong Gym. Also, Becca Scott Kerns is a BEAST doing the Paladin workout twice in one day.
About 5 years ago I taught Katie Wilson how to fight with a lightsaber. While watching her practice Redondo and Abenico's from Eskrima I immediately thought, "If I ever produce a news show about gaming and tech, Katie should host it with Erika Ishii." OK, I didn't think that then. BUT when I started casting my show about gaming and tech, I thought that if I cast them as my hosts that they would become best friends pretty fast. 2 minutes after we finished taping GAME ENGINE, the 4th show of Geek and Sundry Open Beta, they in fact became best friends. Ladies, you were phenomenal. Shout out also to Bruce Wooden and Phill Gonzales for stopping by.
And here's number 3. This was originally a one off that Geek and Sundry did a couple years ago hosted by Nika Harper. They wanted to try it as a live format, so I worked the magic I could and well...here it is. Erika Ishii did a great job with it, and my crew as usual killed it. Here is GASTRO GEEK.
So I'm not like super into Anime or anything. Yes, I grew up with Manzinger Z and Robotech, and may have built a Gundam model or two, but I certainly can't keep up with everything these days. That said, many Geek and Sundry fans are also anime fans, ad we ultimately serve you. I was assigned the task of making an anime show, and it became apparent very quickly that Todd Heberkorn was the only acceptable host. The rest fell into place, except it was missing a groan inducing pun. I solved that quickly by naming this show, OTAKING HEADS.
I don't think that that is all that controversial. I think that's baked into the satirical cake. When NPH says, "It's afraid," and everyone cheers to swelling music....it's kinda giving you a gigantic wink.