This is the long lost episode of Slipstream: The Pulp Culture Vlog. After I didn’t move on in the Geek & Sundry Vlogs search, I allowed myself to feel down for a few days. It transformed into a sneaky shame spiral and I’m only just pulling my head back up almost two months later.
Slipstream is going to be a weekly show on Thursdays with all the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy criticism you can handle. I’m really excited to bring this series to life and explore my favorite genres in a new way.
This week’s episode is all about text. Literally. It’s about how horror, sci-fi, and fantasy authors experiment with the physical form on the page to bring new meaning to their work. Watch it here then click through for all the behind the scenes goodies.
This week on Face Off, the remaining makeup artists were teamed up to create original futuristic Frankenstein’s Monster and Bride combinations for Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights.
You know this challenge was right up my alley for the new episode of Sketchy Details @Home. In four days, I did all of the pre-building and detail work (but not full assembly) on my Monster drummer and his beautiful Bride as the band logo for the night club. Once the E6000 glue dries on the Monster, I can drill holes in the back of the frame to run lights through, cover the inside of the shadowboxes with this really cool Halloween scrapbooking paper I picked up at Michaels, and attahch it to the black box that will function as the Monster’s body behind the drum kit.
Face Off recaps are back at Sketchy Details and better than ever. Why? They’re multimedia now. I’ve spent three seasons telling you what I think of the contestants designs from the comfort of my computer screen. Now I’m going to show you.
Sketchy Details @Home is my new art/craft/pop culture vlog that launches with response videos to the new season of Face Off. Each week, I’m going to reinterpret the challenge on the show into something I can do on a similarly short time frame. Spoiler alert: a lot of the videos are going to be Halloween-related. I’m behind on my build and have too many characters to make to just sit back and put other projects up front.
I actually started the first project yesterday in anticipation of putting the episode up today. That meant I did not have enough time to create the full figure, only the head, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. I went with a faun since it fit in with the inspiration for my home haunt this year.
Congrats to the 10 new vloggers for Geek & Sundry Vlogs. Quite a few of my favorite entrants (Wargamer Girl! Retro Gamer! Cameras! Mythology! Budget Geeks! Sociology of Geekery!) from the jump were selected for the channel and I’m excited for all of them. Shame no genre geeks made it in (ahem).
Speaking of genre geeks, I have three videos for Slipstream: The Pulp Culture Vlog recorded that I just need to beat into a watchable form. The show will return with episodes every other week split up with haunt and art videos starting this month.
I’m going to be part of a live Google Hangout streaming on YouTube about the Geek & Sundry Vlogger search. You can watch and comment live in the chat to ask us questions.
This is the video link.
Come check me out at 3PM EST.
And vote for me here. And click through to watch, comment, and like.
I mentioned at the top of the month that I would be applying for the Geek & Sundry Vlogs channel on YouTube. Felicia Day’s second channel just for vlogs had a talent search going on to fill out 10 slots on their schedule. They wanted vloggers who were really passionate about a topic.
Naturally, I chose genre entertainment. Or, as I dubbed it for this series pitch, pulp culture. Slipstream is all about how horror, sci-fi, and fantasy interact across entertainment media. I’ve actually put up two episodes already, but only the first one is part of the application process.
Starting today at 1PM EST, you can visit my Geek & Sundry vlog page, watch the first episode of Slipstream, vote for it once a day, and (most important of all) leave feedback.
The votes are going to determine who is on the leaderboard for the 30 vloggers moving on to the next round. However, the leaderboard alone does not determine the finalists. The Geek & Sundry staff is going to pay a lot of attention to feedback left below the videos. The quality of feedback will make or break the submissions. UPDATE: Feedback needs to be left on the YouTube video itself, not the G&S webpage. Comment on the video here.
That’s where you come in. If you like the concept for the vlog, like me on camera, like my viewpoint/writing/voice, leave a comment on the page. This part of the talent search is basically a test of how people respond to the different vloggers.
So what does being part of the Geek & Sundry Vlogs channel do? A lot. For starters, it allows me to have a wider audience to share my pulp culture media criticism. That’s always been a huge part of my mission as a writer. I want to help raise the level of discourse for horror, sci-fi-, and fantasy so that they’re not just fringe subjects left to small press, specialty blogs, and conventions. I love that aspect of the culture, but there are great genre properties across all the fields of entertainment that are still defined by category, not substance. Not all sci-fi, horror, and fantasy will appeal to everyone, but a good portion of it isn’t even given a chance.
Second, the Geek & Sundry Vlogs channel is dedicated to developing new talent. Felicia Day is going to mentor the ten chosen vloggers. They’re going to get a stipend for running their series on the Vlogs channel. The current vloggers even received new mics to improve the quality of their set-up. Feedback, opportunities, and a little extra cash can go a long way in improving Sketchy Details.
Third, I want to bring on extra writers but I don’t want to be one of those “it’s for the exposure, no pay” editors. I want to bring on writers when I can afford to pay pro rates for their media criticism. Every extra gig brings me one step closer to this goal. Just the traffic generated from being able to link Sketchy Details to the Geek & Sundry Vlogs channel will be a huge boost.
So that’s why I need your help. Visit my vlogger page at Geek & Sundry, watch the video, vote once a day, and leave feedback. Share the link with your friends and ask them to do the same. There is a lot of competition in the talent search and even a few other people treading the same topic territory. I’m confident that we can make this happen. I’m continuing Slipstream and other video projects either way.
Hey everyone. The second episode of Slipstream, my pulp culture vlog is now up. This time, I break down the essence of Lovecraft through the lens of three very different films that really captured the style, mood, and psychology of the reclusive horror/sci-fi master.
Watch the video here, share it with your friends, and get the word out about the new project.
Here’s your behind the scenes details for the episode:
My lavalier microphone got destroyed at that terrible AnimeNEXT convention. I had to use the shotgun mic that unfortunately pics up a bit of the buzz from the camcorder. I’m loud so it’s not too distracting.
I’m working on a much longer project inspired by Lovecraft on film. I want to test it out at a convention this fall (NYCC, maybe? We’ll see what they say about press running a panel) before committing to the nitty-gritty of putting pen to paper.
I previously did a huge podcast just on the score of Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural and could probably write a book just on that film, its literary references, its style, and its connections to Night of the Hunter.
For all the horror conventions I’ve been to that have advertised Jeffrey Combs’ (star of Re-Animator) appearance, I’ve yet to meet him. Someday, I’ll meet the closest we have to a Lovecraft parallel to Victor Price’s mastery of Poe onscreen. Someday.
“Beyond the Wall of Sleep” is my favorite Lovecraft story. I’ve been writing a musical inspired by it and “The Music of Erich Zahn” for, I want to say, four or five years now. It’s finding the balance between loyalty and accessibility that’s tripping me up.
I warned you about this on Saturday and it’s here already. This is Slipstream, my vlog on pulp culture. Pulp culture is a catch-all for horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. The first issue is all about my background, the draw of the genres, and how they’re all related to each other and reality.
This is also my entry for the Geek & Sundry Vlogs channel. They’re looking for 10 new vloggers to join the channel. Even if I don’t get selected, I plan on keeping up with the videos. I don’t want to set a schedule just yet, but I’m thinking two a month is pretty reasonable. Besides, I have other video series dedicated to art/craft and home haunting planned that will debut this month.
Insider trivia from the episode:
I prepared a huge visual aid for the Neil Gaiman segment that I couldn’t get into focus on screen. My scanner is too small to pick it up, either, so I went straight up competitive forensics with the hand signals.
This took 9 takes with a loose outline memorized in my head. The camera fell over after take 5, hence the perspective jumps.
The Geek Love segment came to me on the spot in my last take. It really was just window dressing. I filmed similar segments on The Handmaid’s Tale, District 9, Friday the 13th, Jason and the Argonauts, Marie Christine (musical), and Star Wars.
The painting in the back is one I took over for a family member who abandoned it. I also painted the fire dragon, rusting robot, and stained glass Gin Gwai (The Eye) fan art in the back.
That is the piano I arrange all my music on and, yes, I was working on some Nightmare Before Christmas and Legend of Zelda arrangements.
Like, share, comment, and subscribe. The Sketchy Details YouTube channel is where all the con videos are going to go. The vlogs will be there. The art and haunt videos will be there. I upload the occasional cover song, as well.
Congrats to the 10 new vloggers for Geek & Sundry Vlogs. Quite a few of my favorite entrants (Wargamer Girl! Retro Gamer! Cameras! Mythology! Budget Geeks! Sociology of Geekery!) from the jump were selected for the channel and I’m excited for all of them. Shame no genre geeks made it in (ahem).