curator of awesomeness

A Comicbook Orange nominated for a Clicker Award. Please vote!!!

by Casey McKinnon on December 30th, 2010

I’m excited to announce that my comic book review and interview series A Comicbook Orange has been nominated for Best Web Non-Fiction in Best of Clicker 2010! We were also nominated in 2009, but we didn’t hear anything about the nomination until the winners were announced afterwards, so we weren’t able to tell our fans to vote in time.

Help us make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself. Go here to vote for A Comicbook Orange. It would mean a lot to me and my crew… we do this out of passion, not money, so winning an award would be icing on the cake.

And thanks to those of you who’ve already voted for us. I see your replies and encouragement on Twitter and Facebook, and it fills my heart with happiness, rainbows and whuffie. ;)

If you haven’t seen an episode of A Comicbook Orange before, below is probably my favorite episode of 2010. It features an interview with Rick Remender, one of my favorite writers (read XXXombies if you haven’t already!), and an adorable skit making fun of how incredibly late Captain America: Reborn issues have been.

Musical Chairs: Running For a Seat on the IAWTV Board of Directors

by Casey McKinnon on December 20th, 2010

Photo courtesy of Jax House (CC-BY-SA)

The IAWTV is holding an election for six seats on the board of directors. I am pleased to announce that someone threw my name in the hat, and I’ve accepted the nomination with the following statement:

Thank you for considering me for a seat on the board of directors. As many of you know, I’m an international member (from Canada) whose been working in the web series field for over five years. I’m passionate about the issues we face and like to share my experience to help the community. Aside from my web productions, I have also written about my experience in the web TV industry for The Guardian, spoken on numerous panels in Canada and the US, judged the Canadian New Media Awards, and helped new community members with questions coming into our industry.

As a member of the IAWTV I have been helping the Awards Committee to come up with smart new ideas on how to further the “international” component of our organization; making sure whatever event we throw, we make it as inclusive and global as possible. I’d like these international ideals to apply to everything the IAWTV does, so people outside of Los Angeles and New York can reap the benefits of the organization. We can use technology and the web, two things we already know a lot about, as a tool to bring us closer together and further our collective goals.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, or see my biography or resume for details on my background and vision.

Thanks to whoever nominated me, I appreciate the vote of confidence! Now… may the best candidates win! ;)

From Rainbows to Grayscale: My Web Site Redesign

by Casey McKinnon on December 10th, 2010

First came caseymcKinnon.com 1.0, a 70s-girly-exploitation site built in January 2007:

Then came caseymckinnon.com 2.0, a more spacey-but-girly site built in February 2008:

Then came this uncompleted happy “As seen on (web) TV” redesign in late 2009:

Then came this even happier uncompleted rainbow/”woodland creature” redesign in early 2010:

And finally came this Brian Wood-inspired black-&-white-urban redesign about two weeks ago:

I’m so happy. I still have a few things to add and tweak, but it looks awesome (to me, at least). Thanks to Rudy Jahchan for spending so many late nights bringing my vision to life. And thanks to the following people/web sites for providing creative inspiration and ideas on social media integration: Nerdist, Felicia Day, Olivia Munn, Complex, and Geek Sugar.

The Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade raised over $1,000 for Movember!

by Casey McKinnon on December 1st, 2010


Holy crap! We did it!!! My Movember team raised $1055.00 for men’s cancers by growing kick ass mustaches! Thanks to the fifteen awesome people who joined my team, and to the over two dozen people that donated money to our cause! Together we truly will change the face of men’s health.

This is something I’ve wanted to do for over six months now. I remember hearing about Movember last year, thanks to my childhood friend Erica Kwizak who had a team of her own, but it seemed too late for me to join in the fun. A few months later, however, a thought occurred to me… After giving myself a very uncomfortable breast exam, I tweeted the following:

I got so many @replies that night and a bunch of guys asking me if they really should check their balls! It seems many of my followers didn’t realize they were in the perfect at risk age group for Testicular Cancer and didn’t know they should check themselves. This troubled me… and I felt I needed to raise awareness.

So here we are almost seven months later! Lots of money raised… and hopefully my followers are a little more informed. If not, here are a few links: Testicular Cancer and how to perform a self-examination (for ages 15-40); Prostate Cancer guide (for age 40+); some general cancer facts for men. But seriously, I care about your health… so please see a doctor regularly. I know it’s tough when you don’t have health insurance or you get busy with work, but nothing should be more important to you than staying alive! I mean, seriously… if you’re not around, who would I tweet to? ;)

But don’t let me get you too down… if you catch it early enough, you can have a pretty happy ending like this guy: Cancer survivor to become a father… with sperm he had frozen 16 YEARS ago. [Single tear]

And now… my awesome boys and their epic ‘staches that helped raise the big bucks!!! <3

Top row: Yuri Lowenthal (@yurilowenthal), Rudy Jahchan (@rudy), Jim Manchester
Bottom row: Kyle Freeman (@kyletwit), Quito Olegario (@quito), John Fillers (@fee501st)
Other team members not pictured here: Jose Cartin, Brendan Darling, Jeff Elwell, Jonathon Himann,
Derek Housman, Steven Keen, Elvis Morrow Sitkovski, Leon Yoshioka

And, lastly, thanks to my friends and fans who donated to the cause. I don’t know everyone who donated, but here are a few of you: Kevin Wong; Sean Percival (@percival); Tony & Kara Moore (@tonymoore & @artsaleskara); Lorelei Bunjes (@curiopraxis); Pelle Eklund (@eklund); John Fillers (@fee501st); Scott Sigler (@scottsigler); Boris Kievsky (@boriser); John “Halcyon” Styn (@halcyon); Liz Miller (@lizlet); Tara Platt (@taraplatt); Tara “Tiger” Brown (@tara); Erik Smith (@ebrown2112); Steven Craft; Lucas Rupnik (@lucasrupnik); Jose Cartin; and Jeff Elwell (@dangershoes). [If I missed anyone, let me know.]

And, of course, it’s not too late to donate! Go here, or donate directly to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong.

New NSFW video is up!

by Casey McKinnon on November 28th, 2010

Hopefully you got to tune in live to my guest appearance on NSFW this week, but if not… be sure to check it out here on in the YouTube video embedded above. It was a fun show, thanks to Brian and Justin for having me on again. If you like it, subscribe! Next week they have my friend Sarah Lane on the show!

NSFW again!

by Casey McKinnon on November 22nd, 2010

nsfw

Join me Tuesday night at 10 EST/7 PST by watching NSFW LIVE on TWiT! Take part in the chat room, marvel at my attempt not to use the f-word in the live stream and watch as I attempt yet again to beat the chat realm in a battle of wits!!! Hope to “see” you!

Stuff I’m in that came out today…

by Casey McKinnon on November 17th, 2010

A bunch of cool stuff I did came out today, so be sure to check it all out! In point form and embedded for your convenience…

1. The Bumps in the Night season two finale: Special guest star appearances from me, Paula Rhodes, Woody Tondorf and Ben Pace. I play Bunny, an emo/punk/goth chick and groupie to the leader of ghost hunting group Wolf Paranormal.

2. Girlhack Girltalk Episode 7: I’m interviewed about how I balance my girlie and geekiness, and talk about my background as a nerd… especially as a young Trekkie!

3. Wire Hangers TPB: Available in comic stores and online today is the trade paperback of Wire Hangers by rock star turned comic creator Alan Robert. Inside you’ll find a printed interview I did with him in one of the single issues that was published earlier this year by IDW.

C’est tout! For today anyway… ;)

Musical Bang For Your Buck!

by Casey McKinnon on November 16th, 2010

My buddy Doc Popular has a new album out this week! I was there when he was shooting the above music video in San Francisco last month (as you can see from around 2:56). All songs on the new album Beeps and Smudges were created using iPhone and iPad apps… so, as you can tell, he’s made of awesome! Hell, this dude is even a bona fide yo-yoer! So, I highly suggest checking him out and supporting him by paying the $1 to buy the album!

Also for $1, my friend Taryn Southern came out with a single today called “Keep It In Your Pants.” It’s titillating techno by a very very hot tamale. Lock up your sons… ;)

Because I care about your man parts…

by Casey McKinnon on October 29th, 2010

As announced yesterday, I’ve started a Movember team and I’m recruiting awesome people to grow mustaches and raise awareness (and moolah) for men’s cancers. I’d be happy to have you onboard… you’ll look adorable in a mustache, I’m sure. Girls are also encouraged to join, they call them “mo sistas.”

So come join my team; The Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade!!!

Join the Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade!

by Casey McKinnon on October 28th, 2010

The Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade Coat of Arms

Fine gentlemen of the internet,

I have created Movember team The Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade and challenge you to join my team and grow a dashing mustache during the month of November. We do this to raise money for mens cancers, but mainly because mustaches are made of awesomesauce. Join me because I care about your man parts.

Respectfully yours,

Mustached Casey McKinnonCasey McKinnon
Captain, The Royal McKinnon Mustache Brigade
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