Being Geek Chic is a blog for stylish geeks, sophisticated nerds and people who enjoy the musings of a complete dork. Join us as we dream of driving the TARDIS, cuddle with our eBooks and test out an iPad sleeve. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi and a team of brilliant lady nerds. Meet the team.
Sometimes I have the overwhelming urge to be honest. Apparently, so does everyone else on Facebook. So let’s embrace that idea for a moment.
If you are ever in need of some really cool art that’s totally free and lives in the public domain, check out Vintage Printable. They provide high quality, free, public domain/out-of-copyright images for you to print or download. Most of them are sciency or earthy, but there’s literally thousands and thousands of cool images there. I’ve downloaded a few of my favorites, mocked them up in photoshop with some whiz-banging text that seemed appropriate and came up with some awesome new Facebook Timeline Banners that you can download and use for Freeezzzie. Pretty cool, right?
(Source: Diseases of the Eye 1838)
(Source: Bird Carrying Juvenile Girl)
(Source: Illustration of the Australian Seascape)
I hope you enjoy them. Why not spread some honesty in a non-ranty, non-TMI way? I’ve already got several likes on my new banner. (I chose the Vacation one…)
Every once in a while I forget where my dreams started. Not the specific stuff like “writing for Wired" or “getting into SXSW" - no, I mean the big, broad picture. A really wonderful friend reminded me this morning this crazy journey started somewhere. And probably with something simple. For me, the very beginning of all this craziness was the moment when I realized just how fundamental writing was to my mental well-being and the semester I decided to “try out documentary" for a class.
So here’s to remembering my first journal and my "Literature of Extra Terrestrial Life" class professor who allowed me to do a documentary for my final project. That silly journal was silver and had a sticker of an angel on the outside. I never wrote with pencils or pens. Only crazy colored skinny markers. For some reason, that was just the thing to do at age 11. And while that documentary on “alien appearance perceptions" was surely absolute shite, it got me on this crazy path and I’m so glad it did.
Hand in hand with my efforts are all the free advice people put on the Internet. It’s crazy how much free advice is out there when you go looking. Yes, some of it is not that wonderful. But this week, I found this post from fellow Minnesotan Sarah Von Bargen particularly helpful: 7 Things To Read If You Care About Your Business + Blog.
Of course, none of this would be on the path to a “business" without the great people who read, watch and tweet and comment. So as I embark on this crazy journey of putting my face on the internet, I’m more thankful than ever for the people who subscribe to me on YouTube. If you are one of them, you are awesome.
And I also couldn’t dream of being a “businesswoman" if not for the people who hire me on occasion to write and create. And I’m always looking for new people to add to that club. Here’s some stuff I wrote in the last week:
Five YouTube Channels Worth Your Time
Fear Hearing Loss? Five Headphones Designed to Protect Your Ears
Does the Academy Hate Geek Movies?
Have a great weekend, my friends!
P.S. You can buy that really cool print with the Octopus in a fancy hat wearing a monocle on Etsy from Stray Squirrels. If you like it, you should support a very creative artist. I mean, people, that’s an octopus… drinking tea!
Meet Jamie Millard! She’s a geeky, techy, spunky, literary whirlwind who’s got a ton of different projects up her sleeve. For starters, she holds a day job as a Client Relationship Manager for Fast Horse, an über-hip Minneapolis-based marketing agency.
But that’s just the beginning. She also serves as the vice chair on the board of directors for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network – Twin Cities; she’s the Editor in Chief of Pollen, a publication/community “composed of civic-minded connectors who share ideas, career and civic engagement opportunities and peer-to-peer recognition;” and to top it off, she’s the co-founder and Executive Director of Paper Darts, a literary magazine, publisher, and creative agency that’s driving the Minneapolis lit scene.
I know, right?! When does this girl sleep?
In hindsight, I should have asked this for her interview. Alas! Read on, and follow Millard on Twitter @jjmillard.
Q: Could you tell us a bit about the inspiration for launching Paper Darts?
A: Paper Darts was partly birthed out of unemployment – the need to keep myself busy, inspired, and active. But also, me and my fellow co-founders felt there was an open space for a platform to tell irreverent, but resonating stories and do so in a way that embraced design like no other publishing model. To this day we are inspired by the combinations of art and lit and the new story that is created when these genres mix.
Q: What is your favorite aspect of working at Fast Horse?
A: I absolutely love the variety in projects and the core value of creativity. Everything Fast Horse touches pushes boundaries of boldness. It’s an environment where big thinking and fresh ideas thrive. Within my specific work, I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to work on accounts with mission-driven organizations—a space where I have extensive experience and passion. Plus, I get to list the “five video game combat moves I wish I could do IRL” in my official bio—that’s awesome.
Q: Got a 5-year plan?
A: I’m totally a 5-year plan type of gal. Actually, I used to have a 10-year plan—I even signed and dated it. Before Fast Horse, I had been previously entrenched in the nonprofit sector, and once I accepted the position, I kind of threw my 10-year plan out the window. I’ll probably sit down and recreate another 10-year plan, and then who knows, in 3 years from now I’ll probably end up throwing it out the window again.
Q: If you could take any fictional character out for a drink, whom would you choose and what would you drink?
A: I’d buy Luigi a whiskey ginger and ask him about his brother issues.
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?
A: When you get to high school and college, don’t beat yourself up so much for hiding inside and playing so many video games. You’ll turn out just fine.
(Photo Credit: Minneapolis Institute of Arts)
Post by Emma Bauer, who works as BGC’s official intern. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic.
Follow her on twitter: @emmalynnbauer
Meet this week’s Lady Geek: Ann Shen! Shen is an illustrator, designer and writer based in sunny Los Angeles.
Check out her super cute portfolio site for a taste of her sassy, quirky, and chic illustrations. My favorite is her series of Funny Face title treatments. So stylishly cheeky!
Want more? Shen is all over the interwebs. After you read about her passions, advice, and memoir titles, go follow her on Twitter @anndanger, find her on Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram.
Have lovely weeks, lady geeks!
Q: What has led you to your passion?
A: Really paying attention to what I was spending all my free time doing - what I was drawn to, be it books, films, blogs, anything. I’d always wanted to be an artist, but it took awhile for me to figure out that I could do this for a living - by calling it illustration and graphic design. It took a lot of paying attention to all the stars aligning in my life (and some of those stars look like misfortunes) that gave me the courage to take the leap and go back to art school.
Q: What inspires you in the world?
A: Things, places, people, in no particular order. I love combing through antique shops and flea markets for anything that sparks my imagination. I’m also inspired by things that require a deep love of craftsmanship you can see - be it architecture, gardening, painting, photography, cooking, etc. Seeing that pushes me to work harder on my own craft. I’m also inspired when I travel - faraway or even on a short road trip. The change of scenery always inspires me.
Then there’s people doing what they love, people with passion, people who are incredibly generous - the Jack Kerouac quote from “On The Road" pretty much sums it up for me: “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’"
Q: If you could take any historical figure out for a drink, who would you choose, and what would you drink?
A: Mary Blair, and we’d have margaritas on the rocks. She’s one of my favorite artists, and I would love to talk to her about her life, her process, hear her story beyond her work. I’ve heard stories that she was quite the salty lady, so I imagine it’d be a good time.
Q: What would you tell you 13-year-old self?
A: Be fearless and embrace your weirdness. What makes you weird is going to make you interesting when you get older. Also, invest in some Apple stock.
Q: What would be the title of your memoir?
A: Food Therapy.
(Photo Credits: Illustration by Ann, photograph by Christina Winklemann)
Post by Emma Bauer, who works as BGC’s official intern. Clearly, she’s got great taste. She is a PR enthusiast, history scholar, tea drinker, fashion devotee, and of course, aspires to Be Geek Chic.
Follow her on twitter: @emmalynnbauer
My fireplace mantle is in need of new art.
The first flakes of the winter have touched down in Minneapolis today and you can be sure my fireplace will be raring tonight. It’s pretty much a requirement. But looking at my fireplace made me realize something very important: I am in need of new mantle art.
Help me decide:
These two capture my love of greens. Green is really my favorite color: although, you wouldn’t know it from my blog design. I love it in all its hues: light, dark, teal, mint, grassy. And luckily, green looks great with the espresso wood on the floors and the slate gray color on the walls. So just imagine that…
But I also love black and white.
And let’s be honest: I am obsessed with the moon lately. And the sky. And space. I’m just not able to break from it. But should I really commit to a big cash purchase of a moon print?
In case you like any of these prints, here’s the links to the designs on Society 6:
So what would you choose? Do you agree that green is the best color ever? It’s so calming. Or do you think black and white is just plain chic? Talk to me!
I was going to talk about the big Disney-Star Wars merger today and then I decided: nope. Everyone has already written about it to death and as far as I’m concerned, I’ll reserve judgement about the wisdom of the move until I see some media. I am still not so sure the Disney impact on Pixar has been that great, for example…
And I mean check out this really cool Penguin Postcard wall art.
So easy, so cute. The blogger who came up with this, How about Orange, is a really great resource for all kinds of DIY goodies and the occasional freebie. Definitely worthy of bookmarking if you haven’t before.
I would be really, really neglecting my nerd duties if I didn’t point out that StarTalk Radio (one of my favorite podcasts of all time) is now in multimedia format on YouTube thanks to The Nerdist Channel.
Who is going to see Wreck It Ralph tonight? We are! If you have already seen it, no spoilers please friends.
I write for other websites too:
5 Unusual Light Bulbs for Exposed Fixtures
The Keys to a Perfectly Styled Desk
Want me to write for you? I’d love that. Check out my portfolio site.
