Geeks and Nerds

Bio

Having been born with a misanthropic nature and raised in the suburbs of Sackville. Gavin has spent a large part of his life surrounded by Labbat beer, Tim Hortons coffee and fanatical Hockey fans. This of course forced him to seek out Single malt scotch, espresso and fandom. Now as an adult he avoids the 'burbs drinks way to much coffee and knows way more than anybody needs to about role playing games, science fiction, comic books and the history of coffee. He brings a frightening amount of nerd rage and an encyclopedic knowledge of fandom to all GvN events.

Bio

Chris Nyarady is a pretty cool guy; all of his family and most of his friends agree! He loves to entertain, and has written and performed in one way or another most of his life. Some of his personal geeky highlights include owning the first issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic, having a Skype conversation with Weird Al Yankovic, playing Dr. Horrible in the 2010 Atlantic Fringe Festival performance of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and winning a city wide POG tournament (he won a Sony walkman! Sweet!!)

Bio

André Myette is a graphic designer and independant artist & writer. He self publishes his own steampunk comic book 'Humbug!' and manages his personal website www.andremyette.ca.

Being a long time film and stage actor as well as a professional wrestler André loves to entertain in any way possible. An avid lover of comics and film, he has a DVD collection that rivals most video stores and a comic book collection that would put most nerds to shame. André also hosts his own podcast affectionately called 'The Endless Podcast' which can be listened to on his website where he and fellow geeks talk about all things nerd and carry on the spirit of geeks vs nerds in a broader format. His highlights so far include meeting Stan Lee, Sergio Aragones, Stan Sakai, Gail Simone, Jeremy Bulloch & Neal Adams all in one day.

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Patrick was born in Nova Scotia, but moved away at a young age and swore he'd never come back. OH GOD DAMNIT!! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?? His high point of geekery is sending in a photo of his Star Wars collection to the Star Wars Insider magazine at age 12. It's no coincidence that he did not know the touch of a woman for many years. Nor a man, for that matter. He attends law school, which is actually nerdier and more socially awkward than a post-LARP group meal at Montana's.

Bio

He accidentally summoned Mothra with a track on his mp3 player: It's Lord Nuke - Blake Hebb. Born and raised in the middle of nowhere, Nova Scotia, Blake crawled his way out of the woods and into the city of Halifax just in time to embrace his geek destiny, as a gamer, cosplayer (have you ever seen Mario running around Halifax?) and Geeks Versus Nerds participant. Blake got his start in Geeks versus Nerds with the Link versus Legolas show, and since getting a taste for it, he's come back many times since.

Bio

Growing up on a healthy dose of Resident Evil video games, George A. Romero movies, and Zombies Ate My Neighbours, it's no wonder that Lor has a zombie plan. It's nothing fancy, really it just involves finding someone incredibly more badass than she, and paying them in clever puns and humour in exchange for their protection. When not burying her face into Sociology and Law books, she is most likely found playing guitar in her band, Sister Knives. Either that, staring at Batwoman comics, dressing up as the 11th Doctor, or re-re-re-re-rewatching episodes of Buffy.

Bio

Steven Heisler was born to be an entertainer. As a child when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up he usually had one of two answers. The first was to be a lumberjack for the giant stacks of pancakes. The second was to be a comedian. Once he learned the difficulties associated with cutting down trees, he knew where his life was headed. While in the womb he rolled well and gained +5 stage presence with a bonus to wisdom in all things geek. His weapon of choice is a laptop with +2 to intelligence and a special skill bonus of +4 to Google.

Bio

After a failed attempt to takeover the world, Kyle Hickey has focused his energy in producing laughs in any form he can. After being named Molson Canadians Funniest Student, Kyle has been crippling crowds with laughter from his satirical yet optimistic stand-up comedy. He once made a women laugh so hard, she went into labor, which was pretty impressive, given the fact that she wasn't pregnant. Since his childhood of watching his older brother read him comic books (he could read.... but his brother did the best Batman voice) he's been a lover of the geekier things in life, so it was only nature Geeks vs Nerds would accept this lovable goofball as one of their own. Consistently silly is the role Kyle brings to the table for each debate. And sometimes he brings potato salad.

Bio

Born and raised in Dartmouth, Ivy's nerdery began at a very early age when she discovered Batman: The Animated Series and ReBoot, followed by Star Wars, Harry Potter and Sailor Moon. Her love of all things geeky has expanded to comics of all types, but especially the horror and mystery kind, classic movies and literature as well as foreign films and art history. She has now escaped the hellhole known as Fartmouth and is currently attending NSCAD for a BFA in Fashion Studies. This is her first Bio.

Bio

What can be said about Mike "Fat Apollo" McCluskey that hasn't already been muttered under the PigMonkey's Breath. Fat Apollo appeared in the first show and been a fixture onstage ever since, mainly because his ass is still stuck in his chair. A retired Naval Officer, Fat Apollo would never cosplay at any rank above Lieutenant-Commander. The high point of his GvN career was debating Nathan Fillian during the Han vs. Mal debate, in which he was robbed of a much deserved victory.

Bio

This man could be adequately described as, among other things, the avatar of righteous nerd-rage. From an early age, Dan developed a love of all things genre. From Star Trek to Tolkien to Batman to Street Fighter, and every joyous fandom phenomenon in between.

But a strange thing happened. It happened towards the end of the last millennium, right around May 19th 1999. A film was released that would alter his life, warping this once happy-go-lucky young spirit into a wholly different animal. One consumed with the spirit of vengeance and a burning need to put right the wrongs of those who would rape his beloved media. That film was Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

When precisely did it happen? There are none left who truly know the answer. Maybe it was the nine year old hack, cast to play the greatest villain of all time. Maybe it was the thinly veiled racist metaphor that was Jar-Jar Binks. Hell, it might just have been the mere mention of the word "Midichlorians", but something changed on that fateful night in May and, to this day, Dan walks the Earth seeking justice for all those wonderful stories that might have been... and Hell walks with him.

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Mike is an avid know-it-all and professional geek, classically trained in the fine arts of fashion and funny. He holds degree in journalism and history, both of which he would have paid more attention to had he not being engrossed in the bane of respected theatre, improv comedy. He's a Trekkie, a Whovian, a Smeg Head and a firm believer in fundamentalist Star Wars. He understands whatever the hell Grant Morrison is talking about, and has been considered for a bishophood by the Church of Ed Wood. By day he can be found in the offices of local magazine Frank, and he assures you that, yes, bow ties are in fact cool.

Bio

Mallory Moors has always been a little nerdy... It all began with the many hours spent watching Star Trek: TNG with her Dad when she was a little girl; making costumes for all her favorite Batman characters; and then, with the help of her brand new library card, the discovery of science fiction/fantasy novels!!!! Throw in some fun 80's and 90's cartoons, some comic books, and a background in theatre and television... and you have the lovely, Amazonian Geek that she is today.

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Dave Conrad was born and raised in a far off land, spending much of is time fighting dragons and collecting shiny objects. His questing found him in many different places, and given him many treasures. Equipped with the Master Sword and his trusty robot sidekick, he set off on a journey that could change the fate of the world. After defeating the demon dog with fifteen legs, this tired adventurer required a port of stay, and floated into Halifax. Here he passes time by kicking turtle shells at rebels, flying to the moon on the back of a magic whale, and arguing which man in a tin robot suit has the bigger package.

Bio

Y'all can try to be the King but the Ace is back.

Larry Gent is a Dr. Dre quoting man of math and numbers. He likes some number (42) and loathes others (26), then there are the numbers he really likes...I mean LIKES, LIKES (3.14159 26535 89793).

This author and drinker (they always seem to go hand in hand) can name every battle, every soldier and every war....for numerous fictional universes. He is a member of the Kirkman army (the non-zombie divisions), the Brian K. Vaughn brigade, the N7 Spectres, TARDIS repair-men (it's like a VCR repair man you just see the ending of the movie first) all while trying to get a passport for Faerun and re-negotiating with George Lucas to get use of the soul he sold him many years back (or at least the merchandising rights).

Larry is often seen at the government offices fighting for his back-pay for his years as Batman. This writer/drinker, who holds the GVN record for longest undefeated streak, can be seen on stage, sometimes with clothes on, and at his review site 42webs.com.

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Eirik sent in a picture but no bio, by the rules of GvN I PigMonkey get to make up his history until such a time that he sees fit to write something. Which in all honesty, considering who we are talking about, may be never.

Eirik Armshaw is the bi-product of genetic cross breeding between a pigmy sheep, and a bowling trophy. At the tender age of 12 he was accidentally exposed to an overdose of radio active of Star trek: TNG. Thus he began his tirade of geekery across the land. They say if you listen on nights of a Trek Marathon you can hear him screaming.

Bio

Jennifer Lambe is a community organizer by nature; working as a Fund Development Officer for a charity by day, and running a sci-fi convention (Hal-Con) by night. In between those two big jobs, she also runs her own event company, volunteers for Steve Jackson Games as a game demonstrator, and tries to have a life sometimes too.

Jennifer was raised in Ottawa, ON in a small family and had a pretty traditional upbringing. Growing up with ST:TNG at the supper table, it made sense her very first crush was on Wil Wheaton. While attending college, she learned to embrace the inner geek and take pride in her extreme knowledge of random sci-fi trivia. Escaping from her parents' basement at 23, she moved to Halifax, NS with a boy she met on the Internet.

Now 30 and part of the self-proclaimed nerd royalty of Halifax, her plans include growing Hal-Con to be the biggest and best fan-run multi-genre convention in all of Canada.

Bio

This Acadian-Quebecian half-breed began her geek foray at a young age with old Spiderman comics and French reruns of Astroboy. From then on she went through school basing every project, from art to English, on geek topics, a trend that reached its apex in university where she wrote a 10 page essay on Battle Royale. Now a MSVU graduate with a Bachelor's degree in advance English (which gives her a license to say THEE and THOU in everyday speech) she work for the government doing shadowy clerical stuff, like filing explosive pen requisition forms and making killer spread-sheets. She is married to the Man in the Hat, Larry Gent, which as far as she concerned keeping him from hurting himself is her true full time job since he believes himself to be Batman (she's had way too many homemade bat-arang incidents).

Bio

Jessica was born and raised here in Halifax. She graduated from NSCAD University in 2010 and studied mainly film history and intermedia. Her true love though is comic books, video games, horror movies and tabletop RPG's. Jess is an expert when it comes to anything Buffy related and has a major soft spot for DC comics, Harry Potter, Star Wars and 90's cartoons. On any given night you might find her raiding with her lvl 85 blood elf warlock, or curled up on the couch having a monster movie marathon with the cat.

Bio

Lenny Langton is an electrician by trade, jack of all trades by necessity, and comedian by fluke. He has been involved in live productions for more than half his life. Normally found behind the scenes, he has done every job you can imagine in a theatre. He has hung lights, ran cable, built sets, wrangled props, and even directed a show or two. Now Lenny spends his time as A/V technician for Hal-Con, as well as being the on-call construction foreman. To wind down he enjoys some of his homebrewed beer. If you wonder how he finds time to sleep, don't worry, so does he.

Bio

Emma started comedy in 2007 and first got on stage at a Yuk Yuks Amateur night. Emma has performed at Knockout the Knerd, Dear Diary-sharing diary entries, Queer Acts, and at That Time of the Month-as part of an all-female comedy collective that puts on monthly shows at the Company House.

She is a member of sketch comedy troupe, The Mind Diddlers, who put on a live, multimedia show at The Company House every other month. Some of their videos on YouTube have as many as 19 views.

She recently headlined a show in her hometown of Nanaimo, BC to a crowd of mainly family friends who wanted to hear jokes about her dad putting dicks in his mouth. Finally, six years of comedy is starting to pay off.

You can find Emma on Twitter @emmacoopstar and The Mind Diddlers on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/theminddiddlers and That Time of the Month on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thattimecomedy

Bio

Drawn into the world of geekdom at a young age by her sister (Sarah Jane "Danger" Blenkhorn) Christina hovered on the sidelines, cheering mightily as Boba took on Batman, Iron Man faced off against Optimus Prime and Chewbacca and Worf demonstrated how to enforce order on a star ship. She took to the stage to defend the Roadrunner against the young upstart Sonic. She's only seen 3 Star Trek movies and wishes that she'd only seen 3 Star Wars movies, (but giggles madly if she catches the final fight scene in Revenge of the Sith) she's waiting for a chance to redeem H.P. Lovecraft. Cthuhlu Fthagn.

Bio

Raised on a steady diet of aliens, spaceships, ghosts and super-powers eventually Brian was removed from his mother's home because that's no way to feed someone. Brian survived on scraps, chip-dip and KD until eventually became an actor and a comedian and realized one WATCHES Sc-Fi, one does not INGEST Sc-Fi.

Brian loathes Star Trek vs Star Wars debates because both are awesome, Superman is epically better than Batman (winning argument: Superman is a reluctant hero. He dreams of living the regular life that we all take for granted. He could dominate the planet in a second but chooses to see the good in humanity and does everything to protect it. Batman has a hard-on for pain and punishment and thrives off his inner demons, he's not trying to save the planet, he's trying to avenge the death of his parents and eventually friends. Batman = revenge. That isn't a hero. Check! MATE!!) and Ice-cream is better than Jell-o. Anyone who tells you differently is an idiot. My name is Brian MacQuarrie and I'm okay with that. Peace, Love and Vulcan hi-5s!!!

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Although she's a Canadian at heart, she did have the unfortunate luck of being born south of the border, so she spends her time in Nashville, Tennessee, as a freelance graphic designer. She also plots ways to take over the world, or move to Canada. One of those. Her geek knowledge finds remarkably specific pockets, such as Firefly, Riddick, or Conan the Barbarian in books. Still pissed off because Hugh Jackman is 6-3 and Wolverine is 5-3, Road Warrior Kimberly Hansing!

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Theta is a Saint Mary's University student studying the wonders of the known universe. She has established the Science Fiction and Fantasy Society at SMU (SMUSFS). She's a dedicated costumer, writer, panelist, violist, singer, actor, and an amateur Astronomer. But most of all she's a Time Lord at heart.

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Christy-Lee's geekdom is based on one simple emotion: Love. It began with her falling in love with Jareth the Goblin King, then Tank Girl, Elrond, Rupert Giles and Captain Janeway. Now she is patiently awaiting the arrival of Thane Krios to rescue her from this silly human world. While she waits, she is on a mission to spread justice to Geeks near and far, crusading against such abominations as the mere existence of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the cancellation of Arrested Development and Firefly and the downfall of Maxis studios. Armed with a sharp wit, an encyclopedic knowledge of geek lore, ridiculous Munchkin skills, and a miniature giant space hamster, she is a formidable geek force to be reckoned with.

Bio

Amanda hears a few statements with alarming regularity: "oh my god, you're such a nerd", "you should be a comedian", and "are those real". The response to all these things is "yes", and thanks to Geeks vs. Nerds she has finally found a place to showcase those talents.

A makeup artist with a passion for special effects and an overabundance of post-secondary education, Amanda likes to sharpen her mind by watching clever cartoons and movies that her mother "just doesn't get", and reading book series generally geared towards youth. Her movie expertise ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, and though she may never remember your name she knows The Princess Bride by heart. She also randomly shares what she calls "fun facts" with her friends and coworkers regularly, as a way of brightening and enlightening their day (general reaction: "wtf"). She's been known to read the occasional comic, owns a Ravenclaw cape, and has been declared to be "cool" by a group of "tweens". She also has an affinity for "quotation marks" as demonstrated here.

Bio

Neil Molloy is an artist, comedian and above all things; a true blooded Native. Born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia with the worst birthdate known to man; Neil is a fulltime artist - creating cartoons, paintings ,and custom designed clothing. In his free time, he likes to read manga, watch anime/movies, and game like a demon. When not doing all the rest of that stuff, he's kicking your butt on the GvN stage!

Bio

Considered by many to be an every-man's-man, he has interests in just about anything (mind you some things more so than others). Over the year, through the many social circles he's traveled in, he's picked up quite an assortment of nicknames, including: Batman, T-Bat, T-rev, T-revolution, T-reverend, T-revasaurus Rex, The Trevor-Ending Story, and many more... He's been an avid movie-buff for just about any kind of movie since he saw Twister in '96 and now-days sees them for free as a perk for working at the Bayers Lake theatre and heads up an internal movie review team that critiques the movies as they come in each week and posts them on a weekly newsletter that gets sent out throughout the company to every Empire Theatres in Canada. For many years he's been quite the Otaku, watching anime avidly (Neon Genesis Evangelion is his favorite); and in the past few year's he's become involved with Anime@Large, Halifax's fastest growing anime, gaming & cosplay enthusiasts group and is currently the right-hand man of its founder and leader Marsha Reid. When he's not working or galavanting with fellow Otaku, he's attending local Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG tournaments & club meets, blasting away at Alpha Strike Laser Tag, working on a novelized series of his (in development since high school), or coming up with more ideas for GvN debates. It's a wonder he finds any time to sleep.

Bio

Léo Melanson can't remember a whole lot of his life before experiencing the amazing perfection of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars on SNES, so this might be short.

Léo (pronounced Lay-Oh) survived his childhood and adolescence by playing various boards, card, pen & paper and video games and trying to build his own time travel device (he swears almost had it figured out once, but had to drop all productivity after Spider-man 2 to try to give himself giant metal arms instead). When high-school came to an end and it was time to choose proficiency, he chose radio (this way he could talk all he wants without being told to shut up). He enjoys spending most of his time playing video games, singing "Weird Al" Yankovic songs to himself and learning about the games that he should play next. He will always defend Donkey Kong as being one of the best and most important figures in video games ever.

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Mavs Gillis doesn't hesitate to bring Inspector Gadget into basketball play by play and Bo Jackson into a debate about GI Joe. When he's not Sportscasting on Sportstream.ca he's busting ghosts, claiming to be the greatest Coleco table hockey player east of Montreal, and living life with just two buttons, A and B plus a little direction.

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Catherine is budding Whovian who's lived in the Whedonverse since her first childhood visit to Sunnydale. She likes to boldly go where no one has gone before and always keeps her phasers set to stunning. She vacations in New Fluffytown and wouldn't be afraid of taking out a zombie who happened to have her best friend's face. Growing up with a geek father she knows that while YOU merely adopted being a geek, she was born into it, molded by it.

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Meg MacKay is a PEI-born, Halifax-based writer, actor, and comedian. She can be described as amateur, at best, at all three things. Meg has an unhealthy obsession with dystopian action movies, and hopes to one day master the crane kick. Meg can be seen performing on many stages and bus shelters across the city.

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Precious, prestigious and precocious - Kayla is a true princess through and through (ask her and you can see her crown).

Kayla is the long-term, full-time Kings student studying in the Costume Studies program in the theater department. She enjoys prepared costumes and backstage designs for plays as well as performing, cosplaying, and being part of different web-series (she's been performing on stage and in film for almost 10 years). She derives from a small town in Nova Scotia and is a cliche in almost every girly way. The reigning miss Nova Scotia International and past Miss Friendship, she also has enjoyed competing in sports most of her life with provincial medals in shot-put, javelin, and basketball. She is a happy-go-lucky giggling glittery ball of fun with an attitude that will knock you off your feet!