Looking Back on The Geek Lyfe 2019
A lot of wonderful things in the year of 2019. My name is DeAngelo Murilo and I own and operate The Geek Lyfe along with a team of pretty awesome human beings. Our goal is to represent the underrepresented and the overlooked via events, articles, interviews, and more. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on all of the projects we tackled this year to showcase our hard work.
The Good Times
Spring Charity Event
One of the events I look forward to the most is our Dungeons & Dragons charity events where we gather a group of content creators together for 6 to 8 hours and game while raising money for Phoenix Children’s Hospital. This year we raised $750 and featured guests such as Sara Moni Cosplay, Loki Twin, Maedae Cosplay, The Final Boys, and more.
Watch D&D Spring Charity Event 2019! Pt 1 from The_Geek_Lyfe on www.twitch.tv
Watch D&D Spring Charity Event 2019! part 2 from The_Geek_Lyfe on www.twitch.tv
Video Interviews
Our roster for interviews was chock-full of fantastic folks that we had the delight of meeting. We got to ask them about their origins, favorite moments, and wisdom as a veteran of their industry. Some of our interviews featured HazelNuttyGames, LollipopHeidi13, Angi Viper, Jihatsu, and more!
Article Interviews
While on the topic of interviews, we’d like to mention a grip of lovely folks we got to spend time with and discuss their brand. Here are excerpts from their articles:
Elie Hutchinson, creator of Lorica Clothing.
TGL: What is the origin story of Lorica Clothing?
EH: Lorica started as a creative outlet for my ample spare time the summer after my last year of college. I needed a project to fight off the existential angst that comes with applying for a Real Person Job for the first time and merging my loves of fashion, art, and history seemed the best way to keep myself busy! I took sewing and pattern-making classes in a neighborhood studio, read lots of books and made many more google searches, and eventually was able to find domestic manufacturers to see my first prototypes made. It took a few years and late nights, but eventually I launched a Kickstarter to test whether or not my idea had legs. Lo, and behold — turns out there’s a world full of women who, like me, grew up wishing that casual full plate was a feasible choice for everyday fashion! The campaign was a hit, and I’ve been spandexsmithing ever since.
TGL: What separates Lorica Clothing from other brands?
EH: There are many quirky legging brands out there with beautiful all-over art, some of whom even have armor-ish designs, but none specialize in historical accuracy the way Lorica does. Fantasy armor is beautiful, but personally I think the real thing is even more mind-blowing because it actually exists! I do my best to replicate extant pieces in as exacting detail as I can, and I love telling their stories. When I show at conventions and fairs, people are always surprised to learn that there’s a date, name, and history attached to each piece.
Missy Suicide, Co-Owner of the SuicideGirls.
The Geek Lyfe: As a co-owner of the SuicideGirls you no doubt had had to wear a lot of hats in order to ensure the success of the brand. What aspect of the business do you enjoy helping with the most?
Missy Suicide: I love when I get to be creative first and foremost, like helping to create new routines, the soundtrack is my baby. Now that the site is 18 years old though and I have been able to do so much with the brand personally the most joy I get on a daily basis is from mentoring the girls who work for me and helping them to see success. There is no greater joy than seeing someone you care about succeed.
The Geek Lyfe: There are a lot of content creators out there who feel as though their goals and passions are daunting. What advice do you have for them someone had told you when you first started your business?
Missy Suicide: People who say “Find something you love doing and you will never work a day in your life” are probably not very successful. Like any worthwhile relationship doing what you love takes hard work, fights, sleepless nights, sacrifice and sweat. The difference is that you get the satisfaction of seeing what you love out there in the world, and seeing how the world reacts and appreciates what you created makes it all worth it, but man it will be the hardest you ever work in your life.
As a veteran of film making, you have done almost every aspect of the process. What aspect is your personal favorite? Because while people know you from acting, I have seen how great you are at writing and directing with Instructions Not included.
Eugenio Derbez: I am so glad you asked this question! Yes, I love acting in films and I will honestly never get tired of it but my true passion is directing and writing. When I was in Mexico, I got so frustrated because no one would consider me for dramas or romance. So I decided to write my own film and it took ten years but I did it! Instructions Not Included was my passion and now I have the urge to continue film making so I can create the stories that I want to see.
Iconic voice actors, Ray Chase, Robbie Daymond, and Max Mittelman
TGL: Often times with creatives, we will create projects that are not as well received as some of the other roles? What was that voice acting project for you?
Max: Kousei, from Your Lie in April. I just feel like it was so good and it just did not get the audience it deserved. (Everyone laughs)
Robbie: Mine was Bread Winners for sure, especially since it was my first animated voice acting lead at a major studio. We did 80 episodes, our ratings were great, they are still paying me, since it still airs, and it opened doors for me since I got to work with some of the biggest names in the industry. However, if you look at it on the internet you would think it is the worst piece of trash ever. Honestly? I think it is a fun, silly show with a broad cartoon humor. It was a victim of the culture at large like the Ren & Stimpy potty humor shows are falling out of passion nowadays.”Why was there a fart joke!?” I don’t know, because when was the last time you saw a kid’s reaction to a fart joke? They love them! That would be my biggest disappointment.
Max: It is funny since people will not think fart jokes are funny and then they’ll watch South Park with that and even more and yet it is acceptable.
Robbie: Because those are for “adults”. There are these adults that are like, “Kids should not see farts ever!” and then the kids are like, “Why don’t I get fart jokes any more?” There is one fart joke in the Lego Movie. I was watching the Lego Movie and it is probably 70/30 kids. The adults were laughing their heads off and the kids were laughing at the slapstick stuff and then there was ONE fart joke and the kids lost THEIR MINDS! They went crazy! I just wanted to stand up and be like “You idiots! Not everything has to be Steven Universe!” Now, I do love Steven Universe! But not everything has to be so serious.
Famed Japanese voice actress, Yuriko Yamaguchi
TGL: What was one role that was so near and dear to your heart but wasn’t so well received with fans?
Yuriko: One of the roles that I had was for a very old anime series and it was for the role of a cat. Essentially, the cat acted like a housewife to the owner and it was hilarious!
TGL: What was, in your opinion, your most well known performance?
Yuriko: It would absolutely have to be One Piece as Robin.
TGL: Out of all of the roles you have ever done, over all of these years, which was your favorite?
Yuriko: My favorite would have to be Neon Genesis Evangelion. If I had never landed this role, I would have never continued in voice acting. It gave me everything and I can’t help but feel grateful for it!
Networking and Nakama
networking and Nakama is an event we host every year that brings the community together for a night of chill vibes and good times. We all take a break from the hustling and just enjoy one another’s company and make new friends. This year we had even more folks show up and it was such a blast!
Here are some of the interviews we held during N&N 2019!
The Bad Times
While The Geek Lyfe had some amazing events, we also had our share of stumbles as well.
Boudoir Cosplay Photo Shoot Event
Let me tell you that I was stressed out of my mind for this event, dropped hundreds of dollars on it, got none of the photos due to the private nature of the event(Which I understand but there was nothing to showcase for the post-event article!), and for the first time ever we didn’t sell out. But in all honesty, it was okay because at the end of the day the team and I got to talk about the future of the brand, ate pizza meant for the clients, and played Super Smash until it was over.
We’re grateful for the clients who did attend and the hard work of the photographers. Not every project is going to be a grand slam and that is okay!
Dungeons and Date Nights
Do you know what is harder than running a website, organizing events, being in a relationship, working a full-time job, and writing a novel? Also writing/producing a D&D podcast! We started the project in 2018 and had a lot of fun times but in the end, we didn’t get the numbers we were hoping for and we found it was way too hard to find time to record so we had to, unfortunately, end the series. While Alexia, my girlfriend and co-host, and I were sad, it gave us a few extra hours each week to be together and it has been wonderful!
Thanks to the Team
2019 was an amazing year for The Geek Lyfe filled with great times thanks to the hard work of our team members: Cobalt Cosplay, DemoraFairy, Cheshsmiles, BytesnRob, Heartless Aquarius, Alexia, Laughing Puffin, Geegiiee, Tidesiren and Pankey.
Because of their dedication and participation, we have made a positive change in our community by raising money to help those in need, organizing events to bring good vibes, created a safe environment for folks to thrive creatively, represented various groups that were overlooked and so much more.
Have a happy holiday and a wonderful 2020 from all of us here from The Geek Lyfe!
Chicano | Fighting/Writing for Diversity | DM since 08 | Anime Lover | Site: https://www.thegeeklyfe.com | info@thegeeklyfe.com | http://twitch.tv/that_deangelo | https://linktr.ee/deangelomurillo
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