Category Archives: Episodes

Bernie Bregman, Nerds Like Us: Episode 93

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Geek event organiser and cosplayer Bernie Bregman is  the man to thank for making events that aren’t just geek-friendly but outright geek-celebratory! Bernie Bregman is one of the best contest/masquerade hosts on the US cosplay circuit with over a decade of experience and several elite-level shows under his belt. Through his company Nerds Like Us, Bernie has organised midnight movie screenings, convention after-parties, meet-and-greets and even a network of nerd nightclubs!

Bernie and I have a great chat about making a career out of getting geeks together, from his introduction to geeking out and cosplay via The Rocky Horror Picture Show through first business venture organising a screening of Repo: The Genetic Opera! to the day-to-day ins-and-outs of running a geek culture event entertainment business.

Celia Berrell, Science Poet: Episode 92

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Author of Science Rhymes and internationally published poet Celia Berrell has a passion for taking science concepts and presenting them to people – children in particular – as poems. Her work is regularly featured in the children’s science magazine of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

Celia and I have a great chat about a lifelong love of science, the importance of a website to self-promotion, the joy of having a printed, published book, the necessity of checking your facts even when writing poetry and being caught out not being a child when writing poems for a children’s magazine. Celia also reads her poem, “Body Chemistry”!

Nolan T. Jones, Roll20: Episode 91

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Roll20 co-creator Nolan T. Jones loved playing tabletop roleplaying games with good mates until relocating across the US almost ended his close friendships. Instead, he and his friends looked online for help with playing the games they loved – and when none of the solutions was good or easy enough to use, they built their own.

Now, Roll20 is one of the world’s largest virtual tabletop applications, and probably the most well-known.Thanks to Nolan and his mates, gamers across the world are getting together every day to play RPGs from Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder to Star Wars and Traveller.

In  addition to being part of an industry-leading tabletop gaming company, he’s worked in comics, including writing the books ‘Colonial Souls’ and ‘House of ORR.’ He has a degree in film and East Asian culture from the University of Kansas, and considers himself a qualified speaker on screenplay structure, Dragon Ball, Vince Guaraldi, and the Mighty Mutanimals.

CJ Ripka, Raw & Real – Episode 90

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Veteran podcaster CJ Ripka has been creating audio content for over a decade. He started when it was still just called “audio blogging”. His skills as a host and personality have shot up, though, since he started his own shows, Average 2 Awesome and his current show, Raw & Real.

CJ has recently expended his podcasting portfolio, joining Ray Rideout, Jr. every day on The Crossroads of Podcasting and inviting Ray to co-host Raw & Real. The two have also started the SDWV Podcast Network, of which this show is an inaugural member, to help podcasts build audiences and earn incomes from their shows!

We have a great chat about making podcasts for the national guard, the struggle of setting your own rate, how creating a celebrity persona helps you succeed and what you do when injuries or external forces not just impact your business but prevent you from doing your thing entirely.

Bernadette Bentley: A Princess of Entertainment – Episode 89

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All-around geek entertainer Bernadette Bentley is a lifelong performer who never let others crush her enthusiasm. She may be best known for cosplaying Xena: Warrior Princess at conventions around California and the States, but Bernadette is passionately pursuing her dream of enriching lives with entertainment.

Bernadette’s nature refuses to let her focus on one thing at a time, which has led her to act on stage and screen, in voice over and web shows. She’s hosted geek events and cosplay conventions. She co-founded Le Geek So Chic, a traveling fashion show that highlights the cream of geek clothing design. Her newest venture is Bernadazzled, a company that allows Bernadette to indulge her love of rhinestoning by creating glamorous fashion items and bringing a little extra sparkle to the world!

We have a great chat about the external pressure from well-meaning folks to not just settle down and get a real job but also to focus on One Thing, the power of lists, the epic experience that was both her first convention AND her first cosplay as Xena, meeting Lucy Lawless, working with a community of fantastic fellow creatives and enthusiasts, moving on when people act against you and helping an animal rescue charity take care of their dogs!

Featured photo from Bernadette Bentley’s website; taken by Estrada Photography

Monte Cook, Monte Cook Games: Episode 88

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Game designer and writer Monte Cook has worked on hundreds of roleplaying and board game products. He co-designed the Third Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, served as design consultant on the Pathfinder roleplaying game and, in 2012, co-founded Monte Cook Games, LLC. As Creative Director and Lead Designer, Monte co-created the Cypher System roleplaying game rules that are the heart of The Strange and the award-winning Numenera.

Monte also bends his writerly talents to novels and fiction, comic books and nonfiction works. In his spare time, he makes the odd YouTube series with fellow geeks, like the a tongue-in-cheek take on ghost hunting reality shows, Geek Seekers, co-starring Jen Page.

Please listen for a great chat about sleeping on couches while interning with an RPG company, some of the dearly departed brands of the RPG industry, why you shouldn’t listen to gossip about the “big guys” and the differences between working for and running an RPG company.

Huge thanks to my guest for episode 87, Jen Page, for getting me in touch with Monte!

Jen Page: All-In on Geekiness – Episode 87

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Full-time multi-talent geek Jen Page is a wonderful example of what can happen when we connect the little dynamo of energy inside us to the things we love to do. She juggles a full-time job managing Microsoft’s community of casual gamers with acting in indie films and web series, modelling her own fantasy fashion creations and making mermaid tails on commission!

Jen and I have a great chat about the life of someone who has gone all-in on every aspect of herself. We touch on how being a navy brat helped Jen overcome shyness, how stage work is not her thing, her secret desire to be a freelance thief for tabletop roleplaying game groups and just how she manages to make time for all her interests and a day job that doesn’t stick to a set nine-to-five!

Thanks to my guest for Episode 71, Tonja Davis, for getting me in touch with Jen!

Lauren Matesic, Castle Corsetry: Episode 86

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Castle Corsetry owner-operator and cat-lover Lauren Matesic has designed and built hundreds of corsets as well as custom costume orders specialising in expertly tailored spandex suits and impeccable cosplay recreations.

As a geeky girl herself, Lauren’s enthusiasm makes her work truly exceptional, and fellow geeks have come to know Lauren as the go-to girl for commission cosplays for conventions across the country every year. Her designs have been worn by geek-culture celebrities like Team Unicorn, Ivy Doomkitty and Adrianne Curry!

On top of all that, Lauren’s latest project is an upcoming web series Pawsplay, which launches on the AWE Me YouTube channel Monday, July 18th!

Lauren and I have a great chat about the challenges of working with spandex, how the makers’ collective that Lauren lucked into sharing office space with inspire and challenge her (and made her the most awesome office space in the world) and about how keeping your child self’s imagination alive after when people say the days of dress-up ought to be over is at the heart of getting paid to play.

Bebo (Brittanie Boe): Working from Home Marketing Board Games – Episode 85

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Board game marketer Brittanie Boe, known to pretty much everyone as Bebo, is an example of paid to play success for those of us who feel like life has locked us into the nine-to-five. She is a single mother and lover of board games who had a day job working in the marketing department of an insurance company.

Now, Bebo is the marketer for a board game distributor, managing multiple social media channels with a team of fellow enthusiasts, attending industry and fan conventions and generally helping enthusiasts find the right games for their tastes. On top of all that, she works from her home!

And if that’s not enough, Bebo joins forces with my guest for episode 77, Teri Litorco; together, they are the blogging, YouTubing and podcasting duo of tabletop gaming, The Board Dames!

It was great chatting with Bebo about how she transitioned from day-job dullness to work-from-home wonderment, how Bebo’s friends and family help stop her from losing herself in work and what her next steps will be – as well as her not-so-secret desire to form a country music band!

Travis Bain: Terrifying and Thrilling on a Tight Budget – Episode 84

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Independent film maker Travis Bain has been in love with movies and the making of them most of his life. His day job is filming weddings and corporate videos, but he pours his spare time into movies like the indie horror film Throwback, the upcoming disaster thriller Landfall, and a currently in preproduction love letter to the works of H. P. Lovecraft, Starspawn.

We chat about how a Mexican singer led to Travis committing to the course of his life, the difference between producers and directors, how hard it is to get your hands on the works of H.P. Lovecraft outside a major city and how kids these days substitute ambition for genuine love and curiosity.