Category Archives: Ask the Failcrew

Meet the Failcrew – Kayleigh Donaldson

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This week we introduce one of the newer members of the family. No bagpipes this time, though. Kayleigh brings us snark direct from the highlands.

What is your role in Made of Fail Productions?

I am a co-host on the pod-cast Anglo-Filles. This role mainly requires me to say lots of random and incoherent things that can occasionally be passed off as insightful, partly due to my accent. In my defence, it’s a cool accent.

What fascinates you the most about your fandoms, or fandom as a whole?

I’m hugely interested in the psychology behind fandom, both the positive and the negative. When it’s at its best, fandom can create an amazing sense of community, a safe place for discussion. Then it can go crazy. I mainly stick to book blogging these days, and YA blogging has seen its fair share of the madness, particularly over the past year or so. Seriously, why would you need the NYT book reviews section when you can have the bully blogger scandals? And yes, I’m apparently one of those bully bloggers. It’s a badge I wear with sick pride. The publishing industry has changed so dramatically recently thanks to some terrible books I won’t mention, and it’s the ultimate train wreck to document.

What is your proudest accomplishment or achievement?

Being called a bully blogger embarrassment to feminism and a monster because of my reviews? No, not quite. I’d say graduating from university with my degree in Celtic & English literature. It nearly destroyed me but it was worth it.

What do you do when you’re not online?

Not online? What an odd concept. I mainly read, write and watch movies.

What is your dream job?

I’m going back to university in 2013 to study theatre & performance studies, with the intention of specialising in writing about politics of and in drama. Ideally I’d like to work in theatre or dramatic academia, but I also have a sick and uncontrollable desire to work in politics. Not that you’d know it from my reasonable and balanced twitter feed.

What is your greatest pet peeve?

People who think that you can get away with saying abhorrent things if you do so nicely and claim you’re not trying to offend. Um, boo to you and your nice-person routine, it’s a terrible and insulting smoke-screen. Don’t think a smiley or a “good day” makes your comments excusable!

How It’s Made (Of Fail) – Star Trek: Galilea, Episode Five

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I do tend to get a lot of questions on how to set up podcasts and similar projects – it is, after all, why I made the podcasting tutorial that I’m proud to say still gets a lot of shares today – and with the positive feedback I’ve been getting for Star Trek: Galilea, I figured I’d go over the process of creating an episode!

The first step is the Writers’ Room Meetings. As I do not write Galilea on my own, I have multiple writer’s meetings with Noel, Alina, and Adam every month to make sure we’re on the same page in terms of not only the episode we’re working on, but the season as a whole.
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Ask the Failcrew – Days of the Week

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIzeO6WiAZ4]

Send in your questions to @made_of_fail on Twitter or our Tumblr queue (questions can be asked anonymously!) and we’ll post short answers to one question each Wednesday!

My little sister got all the talent. All of it. All of the talent. There is no talent left for the rest of us, she has it all.

What’s your idea of an ideal weekend? As always, feel free to join in on the conversation in the comments.

We’re out of questions! Make sure to send in questions to Twitter or our Tumblr queue and we’ll answer whatever you want to know.

Adam Griffith (@kitsunewill)
Hanging out with friends, watching movies and playing video games while indulging in cheap pizza and snacks.
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Ask the Failcrew – Seasons of Love

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQc1_bRga20]

Send in your questions to @made_of_fail on Twitter or our Tumblr queue (questions can be asked anonymously!) and we’ll post short answers to one question each Wednesday!

Much like the Winter That Never Was, this Spring is already shaping up to be a bit inconsistent. It’s hot! It’s cold! It’s 80 and humid! Wear a jacket, you’ll freeze out there!

Made of Fail: We Only Talk About The Weather.

What is your favorite season, and why? As always, feel free to join in on the conversation in the comments.

Alina Leigh (@LJmysticowl)
Spring — nothing beats the feeling of the first time I can put on a light jacket and sneakers after months of heavy coat and boots. Seeing fresh buds on trees cheers me up. And later in the season, around my birthday, the cherry blossoms in High Park bloom.
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Ask the Failcrew – Winter is… gone?

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8zuibDKG4I]

Send in your questions to @made_of_fail on Twitter or our Tumblr queue (questions can be asked anonymously!) and we’ll post short answers to one question each Wednesday!

What has been up with this weather lately? 80 degrees for almost the entirety of March, when it should be… well, it should be nicer than previous years, but certainly not above 56! (Unless you go by Celsius, in which case I can’t be bothered to find a conversion, it’s probably the difference between like 20 and 21 degrees, however that scale works I don’t know.)

In any case, I was out flying a kite this weekend. It was freakin’ delightful. Go out and take advantage of this freak occurrence, and when you do take your Summer with you and bring back my Spring!

(Does it smell like rain to anyone else? Just me?)

This week, we asked: What are you reading right now? Books, comics, etc. Readers, join in the discussion in the comments! And don’t forget to send more questions in!

Adam Griffith (@kitsunewill)
Right now I’m re-reading Night Watch, with an intention of starting a re-read of the Dresden Files books after I finish.
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Ask the Failcrew – Winter Is Still Coming

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yydcG9woWA]
Send in your questions to @made_of_fail on Twitter or our Tumblr queue (questions can be asked anonymously!) and we’ll post short answers to one question each Wednesday!

Season One on DVD. Season Two about to air soon. Alina’s chapter-by-chapter re-read on Second Time Around.

I’m excited. Are you excited? ’cause I’m excited.

This week we asked the Failcrew: What author, filmmaker, or artist has inspired you the most, and why? Don’t forget to join in the discussion in the comments! And send in more questions, we’re starting to run low!

Dana Miller (@y_draig_goch)
Garth Nix, O.R. Melling and J.K. Rowling.
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Ask the Failcrew – For Emily Wong

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpj3dy9ALQ0]

Send in your questions to @made_of_fail on Twitter or our Tumblr queue (questions can be asked anonymously!) and we’ll post short answers to one question each Wednesday!

We’ve lost some good people. They gave everything to get us here. It’s up to us to make it mean something and do them justice. The Collectors, the Reapers… they aren’t a threat to us. They’re a threat to everything, everyone. Those are the lives we’re fighting for. That’s the scale.

It’s been a long journey, and no one’s coming out without scars, but it all comes down to this moment. We win, or lose it all in the next few minutes.

Make me proud. Make yourselves proud.

If you had a choice of only one book, movie, or video game for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

Adam Griffith (@kitsunewill)
Let’s do one of each.

BOOK: Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett. This is where I think the Discworld series hit its height, and it explores the background and decisions of one of my favorite characters, Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.

MOVIE: Ghostbusters. I have seen this movie at least a hundred times in my life, and I never get tired of it. This is the film that introduced me to the Urban Fantasy genre before I even knew there was such a thing.

GAME: Civilization IV (Civ 4). I grew up with these games, and this iteration of the series is considered by many to be the best. The mechanics are excellent, the gameplay is fun, and the whole package is narrated be Leonard freakin’ Nimoy. If you have not played this game, correct that mistake immediately.
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Ask the Failcrew – Earworms

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f__SF96ORFE]

Have a pressing question that you want a dozen answers to? Ever plagued late at night with the need to know our favorite cheeses? Look no farther, because Ask the Failcrew is here! Send in your questions to @made_of_fail on Twitter or our Tumblr queue (questions can be asked anonymously!) and we’ll post short answers to one question each Wednesday!

You know who’s completely awesome? Alan Menken. The man behind the musical score and half the songs at New Disney, from The Little Mermaid all the way through Tangled, Alan Menken is a golden god. Add to that innovative animation, spectacular voice acting, and questionably-controversial reinterpretations of classic stories from around the world, and you have the one company that has owned me completely since I was too young to know any better. Sure, other companies have proven able to do it better from time to time – The Road to El Dorado, for one, and The Iron Giant never fails to make me cry – but time and again, Disney has been the King. For better or worse, the Mouse is with us.

This week’s question came anonymously from Tumblr: You’ve discovered that you have the ability to hear the soundtrack of your life in your head. What musician, living or dead, scores your daily soundtrack?

Dana Miller (@y_draig_goch)
Harry Gregson Williams
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Ask The Failcrew – There’s one in every attic

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1v_q6TWAL4]

Have a pressing question that you want a dozen answers to? Ever plagued late at night with the need to know our favorite cheeses? Look no farther, because Ask the Failcrew is here! Send in your questions to @made_of_fail on Twitter or our Tumblr queue (questions can be asked anonymously!) and we’ll post short answers to one question each Wednesday!

Sometimes you feel like there’s some sort of mystical tome that explains everything about the world. Something that you could go into a library and request, or at least request that the librarian not slam down right in front of you when you were really looking for The Poky Little Puppy. I mean seriously, it’s not like Golden Books is too concerned with the mystical disturbances at the Hellmouth, so why should I be?

That trailer, by the way, is brilliantly done, and the author has made trailers for every season of Buffy and Angel. Give them a looksee (though be warned, Mark is still in the middle of Season Three so don’t spoil him).

Speaking of books, on this first installment of Ask the Failcrew, we find out What would be your first major-release non-fiction book deal, and who would play you in the eventual movie?

(Readers, answer this question in the comments! LET’S KEEP THIS CONVERSATION ALIVE)

Adam Griffith (@kitsunewill)
Hmm. Probably the account of how I saved humanity from a horde of rampaging kill bots, and became emperor of the world. I would be played by Jack Black and it would be a musical.
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