Lez Geek Out!cast

Andi and Lise RAVE about Spirits Podcast, which is: "…boozy biweekly podcast about mythology, legends, and lore. Every episode, co-hosts Julia and Amanda mix a drink and discuss a new story or character from a wide range of places, eras, and cultures. Learn brand-new stories and enjoy re-tellings of your favorite myths, served over ice every two weeks, on Spirits."

Andi and Lise really dig the banter between hosts Amanda and Julia, who speak enthusiastically and knowledgeably about mythological creatures, paranormal creatures and themes, and folklore all over the place. They skillfully lay out the legends, address major themes, and then link them to contemporary cultural interpretations and mores. And they are all about women's rep in these journeys into mythological pasts.

Find Spirits Podcast HERE

And as a side note, Spirits will soon be going WEEKLY rather than biweekly, beginning at some point in October.

Andi did Dragon Con 2017 in Atlanta and it BLEW HER LITTLE FANGIRL MIND. ALL THE THINGS! ALL THE FANGIRLING! ALL THE COSPLAY! ALL THE PANELS! ALL THE AMAZING!

Plus, she wanted Lise to talk more about her own cosplaying and armor design. So, YAY!

For more info on Dragon Con, which is always over Labor Day weekend (early September) in Atlanta:

Dragon Con Main link Comic and pop artist alley Panel tracks Cosplay Dragon Con, 2017 photos Dragon Con roundup, ATL public radio Newbie to Dragon Con? Click here.

AND! Lise MacTague's Etsy site for her cool weapons and armor design!

In this episode Lise is joined by Andy Meadeson, aspiring author and total Mass Effect fan girl. An engineer by day, Andy likes to write or go adventuring when she's not gaming.

About Mass Effect :

As Commander Shepard, rise to become the galaxy's most elite soldier and lead an all-out war to stop an ancient and ruthless enemy: the Reapers. With over 75 hours of content and more than 300 awards, one of gaming's most acclaimed franchises is available for the first time in a premium foiled box set.

Heart-pounding action meets gripping interactive storytelling where you decide how your unique story unfolds. Assemble and lead your team aboard the SSV Normandy, the most advanced ship in the galaxy, and travel to distant and unexplored star systems. On your journey, meet a cast of intriguing characters each with their own story to tell. Wield powerful weapons and customize them with upgrades to create new and devastating attacks. All the thrilling action and your decisions culminate into a heroic battle against the greatest threat ever known.

The fate of the galaxy lies in your hands - how will you chose to fight for it?

You can get the game on Amazon

Andi and Lise rave like crazy women over the TV show Wynonna Earp, which is the absolute awesome and Andi is pleased that she managed to totally peer pressure Lise to turn her into an Earper.

Synopsis, as quoted from SyFy: "Wynonna Earp follows Wyatt Earp's great granddaughter as she battles demons and other creatures. With her unique abilities, and a posse of dysfunctional allies, she's the only thing that can bring the paranormal to justice.'

What that synopsis doesn't tell you is that this show is full of women's and feminist badassery, a F/F relationship, and explorations of relationships between all the characters, and that's no doubt due to showrunner/show developer Emily Andras, also of Lost Girl fame. So that should give you an idea that there is awesome throughout this show, and Andi and Lise STRONGLY recommend it.

Also, Andi is doing Season 2 recaps at her personal blog.

Andi and Lise talk about queer rep in media following the now-infamous incident at San Diego Comic-Con 2017, which occurred over the July 20-23 weekend and involved members of the cast of Supergirl. The upshot was an impromptu song in which a cast member sang an overview of Season 2 that included a belittling of Supercorp, a f/f fanon* ship** between Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers (Supergirl's "secret" identity—omg glasses are not the best disguise…). That cast member then went on to say that he "debunked Supercorp" and was told by another cast member that what he did was "pretty brave."

The fallout was immediate, and LGBTQ fans were hurt and bewildered, so Lise and Andi wanted to address this, which isn't just what happened with Supergirl. It's about rep overall, and this is just the latest example.

And yes, Andi and Lise have some strong feelings about this, so language may be strong as well.

*fanon: a term used in fanfiction and in fandoms to describe commonly accepted ideas among authors and fans even if the idea is not expressed in the canon work, which is the official storyline from the original work.

**ship: in fanspeak, a "ship" is a relationship (often romantic) between two characters, whether canon or fanon. "Shipping" is when fans imagine a relationship between characters (say, in TV shows or movies) that may or may not have been intended by writers or creators.

Some other links about this incident:

The Mary Sue The Refinery Pink News Affinity Mag

Lise and Andi rave about the Marvel comic Ms Marvel, whose latest incarnation features Pakistani-American Muslim teen Kamala Khan in Jersey City who is a total fangirl of Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers). Andi loves that Ms Marvel was a fangirl before she was a superhero. Then one day Kamala wakes up with super powers and she has to learn how to negotiate this new aspect to her life, dealing with the powers and what she feels is her responsibility to help people now that she has them along with her grades, her classes, and her family life.

It's basically teenage angst – something all of us can probably relate to – along with the added angst of having super powers and trying to figure out how best to use them when you're only 16-17 AND attempt to negotiate the landmines that come in any family as you're figuring out who you are and who you want to be. Two big Ms Marvel thumbs up on this one, friends.

Andi and Lise rave about the movie Wonder Woman because…omg, you have to see it. Both were blown away by the strong women’s rep in all senses of the word, but they would like to have a movie with nothing but the Amazons. We didn’t get enough of them. MOAR Amazons, please. And definitely MOAR Wonder Woman. All of that. Much MOAR.

Andi had a long chat with steampunk author Gail Carriger, writer of multiple award-winning steampunkish genre fiction that melds not only steampunk, but paranormal, urban fantasy, comedy and dashes of romance. If you're not familiar with her work, start with Book 1 of her first series (the Parasol Protectorate), titled Soulless. The protagonist is Alexia Tarabotti, a woman of some means in alt-Victorian England who is also a preternatural – she negates supernatural powers because she has no soul. Hence, "Soulless." She is thus capable of temporarily rendering vampires and werewolves non-supernatural.

Carriger is also an aficionado of all things steampunkish and, in particular, the Victorian era.

She is currently writing another series that is a spinoff of the Parasol Protectorate, The Custard Protocol, and she is writing a series of novellas that feature as main characters her LGBTQ characters from the Protectorate/Protocol world. The first, Romancing the Inventor, features lesbian character Madame LeFoux (and you can see an interview about that Andi did at Women and Words).

Find Gail at the following places: Website Pinterest Twitter (@gailcarriger) Facebook AND catch her Retro Rack Fashion Blog

Synopsis of Soulless: Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she is being rudely attacked by a vampire to whom she has not been properly introduced! Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire, and the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

Get This Book on Audible.com | Audible.co.uk | Amazon.ca

Andi and Lise teamed up (kind of) and went to see the movie Guardians of the Galaxy 2. "Team up" in this case means they went to see the movie within a couple days of each other.

In this space opera romp, humor abounds with the Guardians' team – Peter Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Drax, and Groot – who manage to anger The Sovereign, a super arrogant race of humanoids that, like Terminators, just don't quit if they feel they've been wronged. In addition, the team unravels the mystery of Quill's parentage (Andi refers to this as the " Who's yer daddy" plotline) and they end up having to save the galaxy (literally) from a power-mad entity.

All in the span of about two hours of non-stop action, great ol' skool music (like the first movie), and awesome special effects, though they do have a request: More Gamora and Nebula, pleeeez!

Andi and Lise also recommend that if you haven't seen the first (Guardians of the Galaxy), do. Because this one will make much more sense to you and you'll understand the in-jokes and the backstories. Unless you're a comics reader and you're familiar with the series, in which case, have at!

Andi and Lise really dig the TV series Dark Matter, which airs on the SyFy network. It's a space opera, which is one of Andi's all-time fave genres (and Lise's!) but it's got some really excellent elements that make it super watchable. Plus, diverse cast.

Six people emerge from stasis on a space ship and none of them know who they are or how they got there. Plus, there's an android (played by Lost Girl's Zoie Palmer) who also has to have her memory wiped. So six humans with no idea what they're doing on this vessel and as the series progresses, they realize that they have shady pasts and even shadier business dealings in a galaxy ruled by mega-corporations vying for power. The six have to learn how to stick together though they have no idea who they are, and both Lise and Andi love how the show explores the idea of how who we are is determined, to an extent, by our memories.