Being a girl geek in the new millennium can mean a number of things. There are anime geeks who gush over prettily drawn bishounen and the powers of their favorite magical girl. Video game geeks who can tell you every possibility of that date with Cloud at the Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII, including how to get Barret.

There are also comic geeks who have already chosen which ring color they are going to root for in DC’s Blackest Night saga, as well as those of us beaming over Marvel’s Rogue character finally being able to turn her power on and off (where’s that Cajun?). 

And that’s not even mentioning all of the possible fangirling that geeks commit over certain movies, television shows, books, and more.

Me, I like to think of myself as a little of all of the above.

It can be hard to keep up with so many geek related material when so much of it appeals to me.  I have my shows, the movies I’m looking forward to, the comics I have to read, the games I have to play, the anime I have to discover.  The list goes on.  And it can be tiring at times, but, ultimately, so much more rewarding than limiting myself to one geek subject matter.

The truth is, we are so connected today, so capable of experiencing so many different forms of media, all at out fingertips with minimal effort, that I don’t have to choose, and you don’t either.  We can have it all.  Every.  Single.  Day.

Now, I didn’t create this blog as a source for breaking news.  There are plenty of other places online and elsewhere for that.  This is for looking back on those topics that are hitting the headlines and that remain strong in our minds, commenting on them, and hopefully spurning further conversation on topics that I (and, I assume, you if you have stumbled upon this page) love.

I would like to use this first blog post to let you know about some of the places I get my news, and how I keep up to date on all of my important geek topics.

Anime

Anime is a tricky one because while there are a number of great sources to stay up to date, the remarkable flux of anime into the US the past few years has not only hit its plateau but has started to dwindle.

Even Cartoon Network can’t be counted on anymore to have much more than Naruto as part of their main lineup. We’ve regressed back to only being able to hope that Best Buy might actually have a new title in that doesn’t mostly suck, which was hard enough during the peak of anime interest.

Our other option, if we don’t want to wait for the anime to come to us, is to search for torrents .

Now, I would love to share with you some of the places I go for anime torrents, but then light would be shined on them, they would become more widely known, and they would have that much more potential to get sued and destroyed like Pirate Bay.  No thank you.

If you do want to stay up to date on what’s new coming out of Japan, finding good torrent sites is not difficult.

I would like to stress that some anime are worth buying the English versions of when they come over to the States (as long as they also offer the Japanese language track).  On rare occasions the dubbing is actually pretty good, and not just with older titles like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop.  Personally, I consider Fruits Basket to be one of the best dubbing jobs ever.  Granted, that title is getting pretty dated now too, so maybe all hope is lost.

Anime DataBase and AnimeNfo are good sources for comprehensive information on most anime titles.  Of course that doesn’t even graze the tip of the iceberg on what other sites exist out there, but everyone needs to start somewhere.

Comics

Comics can be tough to keep up to date on too.  We all wish it was like the good ol’ days when we could just hop down to the local comic shop and use our allowance for our favorite titles, but it isn’t quite that easy for those of us who have to pay bills.

Collecting comics costs a lot of money. Much like the tabletop game Warhammer, you need a lot of disposable income to get everything you really want. Some people use torrent sites in this situation as well because you can get a lot of titles, or a lot of one title, in a short amount of time without paying anything.

To be honest, I find it a little disheartening to torrent comics when the comic world has been through so much (Fredric Wertham anyone?). It’s the principle of the matter, really. So if that isn’t your style, I completely understand, and there are some solutions.

Marvel has a great system for subscriptions to your favorite titles that saves you up to 52% per comic.  It works like magazine subscriptions so you can have the comics delivered right to you.  They also offer their digital comics which, granted, may not be comprehensive, but they have quite a few classic as well as newer titles, and it only costs $59.88 up front, that’s $4.99 a month, for a whole year.

Unfortunately, DC doesn’t have anything nearly this sophisticated.  They have a less flashy subscription setup that doesn’t save you nearly as much as Marvel. You can get previews of titles, along with a handful of motion comics and other media material through the All-Access page, but I would prefer a little more access to the all-access part. 

Similarly, DarkHorse has some available e-comics, but the selection is limited. I do, however really enjoy their Making of a Comic section, and highly recommend a visit.

The best route, as far as I’m concerned, is to do a little of everything—torrent, buy hardcopies, read up on Wikipedia when you just can’t keep track of some of your favorites, and take advantage of what the big name publishers have to offer digitally.  If it’s worth it, chances are you’ll find a way to read it.

Movies

Superhero Hype is a good transition here as it has a lot of information on comics, giving updates on everything superhero—and villain—related.  Of course that can cover a lot of bases that stretch beyond regularly thought of superheroes, so it’s definitely worth a look even if you’re not a comic fan.

I have to mention IGN, which has more material than I know what to do with most of the time, covering all things video game. This includes a ridiculous amount of movie information since these days it seems that every movie needs its own accompanying (and usually crappy) video game.

Also, if you don’t know about IMDB by now, where have you been? I swear about every ten seconds I’m going ‘what did I see that guy in before?’, and if it weren’t for IMDB, I probably would have gone insane years ago.

For example, I get quite a kick out of realizing that Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the actor who so wonderfully portrayed The Comedian in the film adaptation of Watchmen, can’t seem to escape comic book movies. The Losers (Vertigo series) is set for 2010.

Television

I know there are many places to go to find out the ‘what’s what’ in TV land, but my tactic is usually just watching TV. I got out of the habit of being glued to the boob tube when I was in college, and never really got back into it, so I tend to only stick to certain shows and networks.

My husband and I get a lot of Netflix and have recently discovered the wonders of Hulu. Otherwise, we mostly stick to our favorite shows, currently including Supernatural, Dollhouse, Castle, and What Not to Where. Yes, I know I’m evil for making my husband sit through a TLC show, but I swear it’s the only one I watch.

As a PSA announcement I would like to please encourage everyone to STOP WATCHING SMALLVILLE. I can only blame myself for its continuation this next season. I watched because I thought it was going to end. Unfortunately, we were all doing that, and we improved the ratings so much that it just won’t die. At least Michael Rosenbaum got out.

Video Games

Besides enjoying IGN, I am also a big fan of G4 TV, known best for X-Play with Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler. I recommend G4’s web show The MMO Report with Casey Schreiner. He is witty, intelligent, and covers more than just news on World of Warcraft. Definitely a plus.

Kotaku is the number one video game news site my husband frequents, and he frequents it often, if that’s any indication of its worth for you.  Go there for anything and everything on upcoming games for all platforms.

And finally, every Wednesday I head over to The Escapist for the newest Zero Punctuation video game review by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw.  Yahtzee is a phenomenon within himself, with sharp, sarcastic humor that nails every flaw the video game in question has, with little to no pause for breath during his rants.  It isn’t about telling you not to play the games you were already looking forward to, or maybe already own, but Yahtsee is definitely blunt and hard to please.  His criticism is spot on even when he is talking about games I love.  You’ll find yourself thinking you have stumbled upon the newest episode of American Idol, nodding along with Simon, because, let’s face it, that brutally honest critic is almost never wrong no matter how much we might like who he is bashing.

Conclusion

A final few words on getting the most out of your geek experience in these new and frightening times—I haven’t even touched on what is out there to help you maintain your collections, but now you know some of my favorite places to go—please don’t forget the ever growing world of social media.

Whether Twitter, Digg, Facebook, or that awesome new blog you stumbled upon, if you can’t find what you want on the big-name sites, chances are you’ll be able to find someone somewhere within your network who is talking about exactly what you want to discuss.  So even if you’re a little social media wary, it’s worth looking into.

I follow a few awesome people on Twitter, like TheSpoilerGirl, ScifiWatch, and NathanFillion, and there are many other good sources for getting updated on even the most specific topic you want to know about.  Give it a whirl.  And if you feel like following me, I’m there too.

~G³

Join me next time when I’ll be discussing the upcoming video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, and the generation that first listened to Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series.

Thanks for tuning in.
 

Images taken from:
http://www.oruclip.net/barret/
http://www.paulgravett.com/index.php/articles/article/manga-to-anime/
http://www.reelmovienews.com/gallery/another-comedian-poster/
http://www.architectradure.com/tag/fun/
http://ktimothy.com/American-Idol/gallery/clipart/
http://www.ideasthatspread.com/blog2/

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