GOTW – Devin of Get Geek

If you get the strange feeling that you are experiencing deja vu, it is likely because we originally posted about Devin back in August, 2011.  His Geek of the Week post was one of the posts lost when our host had what they call a “minor” and we call a “pretty effing major” data-base breakdown.  We like Devin so much, we couldn’t bear to let the post stay in the wormhole.  We have done our best to re-create it here.

The more Bex and I read of Devin’s comments on our own site, the more we came to realize this kid is a kindred spirit.  When we explored Get Geek, the website he runs with his friend Tim, it was downright spooky.  “This kid is just like us, but male…and a teenager,” Bex said to me.  Wait…what? A teenager?  Someone born in the 90s who’s seen nigh on all Joss Whedon (we’re inclined to forgive him for skipping the second season of The Dollhouse) Just was too freaked out as I was watching BSG, and couldn’t deal with double heilo, but I plan on getting around to it., is catching up on Dr. Who, who gets in intellectual debates with his dad over the ending of LOST!?  Impossible, I say with a French accent!

Yet, it is totally possible with a french accent!  Not only that, but I’m going to have to admit that We Get Geek may very well out geek us.  It has the movie, book and comic reviews like we do, as well as the occasional pop culture updates, but adds two critical geek cred elements that G4 has only touched on in other GotW posts: RPGs and podcasts.

(Apologies, Devin, for the “kid”.  It’s a 30-something thing.  Anyone under 25 is a kid to us now.)

I think Bex would want me to mention here that she’s been suggesting podcasts forever, but I have yet to help out in anyway, so our failure to add this super cool element to our site falls totally on my shoulders. Just as an aside that you don’t have to add to the post, it is hard scheduling and staying semi-professional while recording especially when your whole family is milling around the house.

They even posted a happy birthday to James Marsters.  Why didn’t we think of that!?

So, what do we do with such stiff competition?  Well, we team up of course!  Thus, an e-mail invitation to Devin to be Geek of the Week and an enthusiastic “yes!” in reply.

Funny thing happened when I sent him some questions for the interview – he replied with such humor and insight that rather than rephrase and condense the way I would with a phone interview, I decided to (mostly) let Devin speak for himself.

G4:  How would you categorize your particular brand of geekery?

I tend to focus on media. Not CNN media. I’m talking movies,video games, comics, novels, whatever it is I’m in. Not too into anime though. Just a bit too weird and nonsensical even for me, and if you know me, I like weird.

I’m into the RPG’s too although I haven’t played in a face to face game for a while. Usually I sit in the DM seat when it comes to playing because no one else steps up or knows how(It’s not hard newbies, no matter what you read).

I like anything with deep characters, and anything that can make me laugh. That said, I love really serious really dark stuff. I love to see characters I love suffer, and be able to bounce back. Of course all of this comes with the caveat that its written with a purpose and written well.  If we had been having this interview over the phone, I would have taken us on a tangent about Joss Whedon.  He’s really good at making you fall in love with someone and then putting them through absolute hell.

G4: We love a good origins story.  What’s yours?

Scott Johnson and Stephen Schleicher are the people you really have to
blame for my mess. They both work really hard to run their websites and
podcasts and they are great role models, but more than that they are largely
responsible for me being the geek I am today.

Scott Johnson and his cohorts on the late extralife radio, introduced me to the world of great sci-fi and the fact that people actually watched Star Trek (at this
point I didn’t really know of anybody!).

Stephen Schleicher who runs Majorspoilers.com introduced me to comics, and is why I tried out this whole “Dungeons and Dragons” thing.

So, I owe a lot to them. Of course I have established my own identity as a
geek by now, and the website came largely out of a desire to to share experiences and be a source for people who want to find great fiction and figure out what’s worth spending time, and money on and all that. I figured it was time to be a bigger
part of the community. So I asked my friend Tim to join me, and we
started the site.

G4: Any recent recommendations for folks?

I would mention The Sandman since I’m reading through that again with you guys but, I think you have it covered

(This is true, but I decided to leave it in because I will take any opportunity to plug the re-read)

Flora  Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her
Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers(One Blue), A House with
Eleven Thousand Rooms, and A Red Dog.

Yeah, wrap your head around that title! It’s a novel written by Ysabeau S.
Wilce. That title and the fact that it won some award drew me too the
book, but the incredible strangeness and whimsy found in this book kept
me hooked. It’s a pretty standard adolescence tale, of the main
character(Flora) being tricked into doing something stupid, and then
letting her own ambition drive the rest of the story. It’s just a really
fun read if you’re into weird crap like me.

Seriously, how many teenagers do you know that use “whimsy” and “weird crap” in the same paragraph?  And somehow, it works.

I’m going to put a disclaimer on Devin’s behalf here and let you know that we did this interview weeks ago.  We have been working on getting our GotW stuff done in advance.  So, he’s not as painfully behind on movies as this next part might imply.

I saw Thor the other night, and its great. I know I’m a little late to
the party, but I usually am. It was well acted, the action scenes were
not overdone, and there was lots of little easter eggs for us comic
fans. I think I was the only one who freaked out in the theater when
Hawkeye showed up. It was written by J.M. Straczynski, who wrote one of my favorite Thor bits, and it definitely shows.

Well, I think you all know how I feel about Thor. He won’t get any argument from me.

I want to mention Doctor Who, because I’m working my way through the
Tennant stuff, and I love it. It sure seems like I’m beating a dead
horse by saying go watch it. But I don’t care. GO watch it. If you don’t
want to go back you can just start at the Matt Smith stuff or series 5
which is when I started watching.

The Umbrella Academy. This is another one of those so weird you have to see
it things. I just finished the second volume which centers around time
travel and the assassination of JFK. The first volume which you should
read first, deals with among other things: an evil Eiffel tower, and a
song that would end the world. The main characters consist of a man’s
head transplanted onto the body of a giant moon ape, a psychic telepath
who’s powers won’t work if he’s wearing shoes, and more. If that didn’t
sound awesome to you, then you probably won’t like it, but if your eyes
widened as you read that then the book is absolutely for you.

G4: Any old school recomendations?

Greg the Bunny. This show does not get enough love, as far as I’m concerned.
It’s about the production of a kids show similar to sesame street, but
the puppets are real. The cast is great. You have Seth Green, Sarah
Silverman, and Eugene Levy. Of course there’s the puppets too. All the
voices are great and the puppets really steal the show for me. You have
Greg himself who is really innocent to the business and who everyone
says is just there to look cute. Then you have Warren a self proclaimed
stage actor who of course thinks that the entire show is a success
because of him. Finally I want to mention Count Blah, who is of course a
parody of the Count from Sesame street, and who has to say Blah after
everything he says. Hilarity ensues. Unfortunately it was canceled after
a short season due to the creators fighting with the studio.

Freaks and Geeks. This show is something special. Its funny its heart warming
at times. It’s also where a lot of big names got there start. It was
produced by Judd Apatow, and stars James Franco, Seth Rogen, and Jason
Segal to name a few. Again the series was canned after 18 episodes were
made. I’m feeling like crying again now. Oh well.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

These are just such great shows. Some seasons are clearly
better than others, but its always above average TV. I’m actually going
to do a top ten reasons you should watch Buffy and Angel(out now). It’s mainly to
get Tim to watch it.

Axe Cop is a webcomic written by a 6 year old and drawn by his
older brother. It’s great, it will remind you of being a kid. It is
completely insane, it will make you laugh and cheer. The art is great
too. Best of all. It’s free on the internet!

Finally I had to include Order of the Stick. What started out as a series of
dungeons and dragons inspired jokes in webcomic form, has grown to
become an epic tale with characters I care about. The art is simple, but
it is far from bad and it grows on you. So if you are into fantasy, or
D&D or just want to good laugh because as it goes on the jokes become less and less about D&D I would recommend it.

G4: Any celebrity crushes in the geek world?

Karen Gillian who plays Amy on the new doctor who. Totally infatuated with her right now.

Pretty sure you’re not alone on this one, kid.

G4: Future plans for your site or any other projects you are working on?

Actually yes. I’m writing a fantasy parody slightly inspired by Flora
Segunda (see above). I’m not sure how I’m going to release it yet. It
will be a while before its released, because I’m trying to get down the
first story arc before I start releasing it. I am super exited about it.
The main characters are Safiurr, a girl; Mr. Gibbon, a gibbon, and
Brah, a tree. So its going to be really silly, but I’m going to try to
inject some real drama if I can.

Thus concludes our interview with the charming and hella geeky, Devin.  Honestly, we can’t wait to see what he gets up to next. Who knows what exciting things will come in his long geek life. He’s just getting started.