Geeks Gazette

28/03/2023

Cosplayer spotlight: Meet Glenyz Pereira (@/masakiprincess)!

Pereira is a proud nerd in more ways than one. She’s a grad student studying communication and plans on being an English teacher. She’s also a cosplay enthusiast.

“I thought studying the way people talk sounded so cool. And when it comes to the cosplay aspect of everything, it’s non-verbal. It’s still a form of communication on its own, because we express ourselves through cosplay,” Pereira said.

One character that she’s used to express herself is Jinx from the Arcane series. It took about two years to make the cosplay and Pereira says it was the first cosplay that, as a plus-size cosplayer, really pushed her out of her comfort zone.

It was worth it, though. Pereira said that when she went to Florida Supercon, she couldn’t even walk two feet without someone stopping her. She also got second place in a contest at Anime Fan Con.

But bad attention sometimes comes with the good — the worst of it comes on social media. Certain people use the comment section to sexualize or insult Pereira.

One comment, she told Geeks Gazette, said, “I didn’t know Jinx was on my 300 Pound Life.”

She doesn’t let those comments keep her down though.

“After a certain point, I kind of just learned to turn away from it,” Pereira said. “At the end of the day, the block button exists for a reason. You have to be your biggest cheerleader.”

Pereira won’t stop doing what she loves, and she hopes she’ll inspire others to do the same.

“I love cosplaying because it always gave me the freedom to be comfortable and feel accepted for who I am,” she said. “I just hope that by me just being me, I can help inspire someone else to do cosplay too.”

21/03/2023

After years of being treated differently in the tattoo industry, Erin O'Dea opened her own tattoo studio in Florida’s Flagler Village.

The men and women in her shop split cleaning duties amongst each other rather than sticking that role on the women like O’Dea had experienced – especially from tattooers who had been in the industry longer than her.

“I had everyone from that generation basically saying, ‘I don't want to compete with you, I don't want to compete with women. You have b***s, you're gonna be able to steal my business,’” O’Dea said. “So there was this fear, I think, from older and mostly male generations about competing with women. Which says something about women really.”

"I don't want to get tattooed by a lady!" Erin has heard it all. But she made a difference by opening up her own shop.

09/03/2023

Check out the video interview with Glitch Bar’s owner Dwight Slamp:

Geeks Gazette interviewed Dwight Slamp about his childhood and how that seeps into his business.

09/03/2023

My friend and fellow blogger, Joe Pye from browardbeer, and I recently sat down with Dwight Slamp, owner of Glitch Bar

“Glitch Bar has been an outlet for me to channel my youth,” Slamp, 43, says. “I collect toys. I collect art. I collect video games. All the fun stuff here I would’ve had in my room as a kid.”

Read the full story:

Geeks Gazette interviewed Glitch's owner Dwight Slamp about how his nostalgia seeps into his business. Frankly, it makes it the place to be.

07/03/2023

Read the latest Geeks Gazette article. Thanks so much to Joseph Vavrik for sharing his story. More to come soon!

Joseph Vavrik was diagnosed with cancer last May. He powered through a surgery, which removed 57 lymph nodes, and never stopped doing what he loves: cosplay.