Kara Dennison

On Geek and Sport

By Kara Dennison October 22, 2018

So, full disclosure. I’m not huge into sports. It’s not a conscious decision — not nowadays, at least. As a teen, back when I still believed you could be Geek and nothing else, it was a choice. But as an adult, I’m largely not into it because my state has no major teams.

I do notice, though, that there is a mentality among some fans that Sports Ain’t Okay. More than that, the fans actually deserve a good mocking whenever possible. There are a few “safe” sports for fans: wrestling and roller derby are okay, and have a lot of visible fan interaction. But if you want to be into one of the Big Four sports, there’s at least a small chance you will be torn down hard.

I was aware of, but not keyed into, this mentality until I heard a major podcaster go there.

Can We Be Unspoiled in 2018? Apparently.

By Kara Dennison October 8, 2018

A little bit of Kara History: I was a young teen just as Geocities was getting underway. You know, the version with “neighborhoods” and 4-digit addresses? I had three of those. One was dedicated to a fan site for Robin Williams, who was — and remains — my absolute fave. At the time there was no such thing as “official sites” for celebrities, so I did my best to create a repository of knowledge for fans until such time as this happened.

This ended up including whatever news I could find on upcoming film and TV projects, and boy was that rough. There was no such thing as social media, and the concept of an “online marketing campaign” was still to come, so early entertainment news was a lot of dead ends and guessing. The number of “Development Hell” entries there were on my page was staggering, likely because we hadn’t learned yet that “I’d like to do this someday” doesn’t count as a business deal. And on top of that, the concept of an official website for a film was downright novel.

The Storytelling Gold of One-Sheet RPGs

By Kara Dennison September 24, 2018

If you’re into tabletop RPGs, you have probably encountered the work of Grant Howitt — whether you know it or not. He’s the creator of the one-page wonder Honey Heist, which has been taking the gaming world by storm from Critical Role to your buddy’s after-work hangout. He’s got plenty of others up his sleeve: Pride and Extreme Prejudice, Big Gay Orcs, and the recent street racing raccoon epic Crash Pandas.

I’ll admit that when Honey Heist first landed, I considered it cute as a Twitter post but unfeasible beyond that. I was wrong. And I was happy to be wrong.

(No) Sympathy for Thanos

By Kara Dennison September 10, 2018

I recently finally saw Avengers: Infinity War. The delay was thanks to the fact that early-run memes spoiled the ending for me within the first two days of release. I just needed a little time to chill and remember that the story is more than the ending. When I did finally get around to it, it was alongside Deadpool 2. So I got a nice “Josh Brolin as Marvel Sad Dads” movie marathon.

Unlike those memes, though, this piece talks about the entire movie. So if somehow you’ve even waited past me to see Infinity War and want to come in unspoiled? First of all, good luck. Secondly, come back to this once you’ve seen it. It’s worth it.

Why My Standards for Interactive Horror Are Now Impossibly High

By Kara Dennison August 27, 2018

I love. Love love. Love love love. Interactive entertainment. I love escape rooms, I love ARGs, I love crazy theatre experiments. It’s the closest you can get to safely living all your weird daydreams, and the more I see, the more I want.

That’s how I fell into following YouTuber Nick Nocturne. His Night Mind channel pieces apart everything from Wham City’s experimental Adult Swim vids to indie-created horror series — but his focus is absolutely on the latter.

Every Writer Needs to Play (or Watch) “Five Nights at Freddy’s”

By Kara Dennison August 13, 2018

So, confession time: I’ve never in my life played more than five minutes of any Five Nights at Freddy’s game.

I can’t. I have epilepsy and anxiety, so it’s a no-go despite my love of nightmare fuel and the “ruined childhood” aesthetic. I’m fine watching theory videos and Let’s Plays, so I can at least get my fix that way. I was never big on that particular brand of survival horror, so I wasn’t missing much. But the slowly unwinding lore when it first came out had me fascinated. (Anyone who’s read my previous articles will understand this — I love taking stories apart and looking at all their individual pieces.)

Future Vision: What’s Next for Steven Universe? (Spoilers)

By Kara Dennison July 30, 2018

NOTE: This post has big, big spoilers for every episode of Steven Universe all the way up to the most recent episode, “Legs from Here to Homeworld.” If you haven’t caught up to your space rock soap opera, I highly encourage you to do so before proceeding with this post.

Unpacking Our Emotional Baggage with “Psychonauts”

By Kara Dennison July 16, 2018

*Arrives 12 years late with Starbucks* Hey, have you guys heard about Psychonauts? It’s pretty awesome.

So yeah, I’m extremely late to the game (in more ways than one) when it comes to playing this piece of work from Double Fine. If you’re as behind as I was, I’ll just say you have no idea what you’re missing.

Wearing the Title of “Fake Geek Girl”

By Kara Dennison July 2, 2018

If you’re a regular reader of the blog or follower of Jordandené in general, you’ve probably seen me around in the last handful of weeks. But in case you haven’t: hi, I’m Kara Dennison, and I’m apparently a fake geek girl.

I’m also the lead editor for multiple well-known anime and game localizations. I’m a published author and a journalist with ten years of experience. And I’m an interviewer who’s been lucky to share the stage with a few people you might have heard of. But that doesn’t stop me from earning the title, it seems.

“Solo” Is a Lot More Than a Name

By Kara Dennison June 18, 2018

Note: This article contains spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story. If you haven’t seen it yet and want to come in fresh, come back after you’ve seen it.

Takes on Solo: A Star Wars Story are as broad as the galaxy it takes place in. Sadly, a variety of factors means it’s the poorest-performing Star Wars movie ever. Which is a shame, as it’s a fun film that explores some interesting times in the series canon.

On the surface (and, well, in general), Solo is the origin story for Han Solo and his whole deal. We don’t see every single caper that made him the lovable jerk he is by Episode IV, but we get the high points. We even see how he got his name. And that moment — a throwaway, almost corny move — is our cipher for the movie.