Happy Birthday Action Flick Chick!

From the Next Woman of the
Web photo shoot by the Bui Brothers

This is a special blog post in honor of Action Flick Chick Katrina Hill's birthday (today!).  Action Flick Chick Katrina Hill has been kicking ass online as a female nerd online for years now and won G4TV's Next Woman of the Web award in 2009.  At this point, her website will serve as a better bio than anything I write and plus you should be going there regularly anyway (http://actionflickchick.com/superaction/). 

Katrina was nice enough to agree to a Q&A session with me when we first started Nerds in Babeland and I think there is no better time to celebrate her awesomeness with fellow nerdy/geek girls than on her birthday.  Since starting this blog, I know that I personally  have been truly amazed at the strong network of nerd/geek girls online that are working together to bring attention to the fact that, yes, we do exist.  There are quite a lot of us out there that have been nerds and/or geeks for a long time (long before it became more popular to be a nerd).  Action Flick Chick and her success (in addition to the success of many other geek/nerd girl sites like Geek Girl Network, Geek Girl Diva and Geek Girl Con to name a few) show that nerdy/geeky women have tons of stuff to say about topics such as action, sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, and comics and we plan to share those thoughts! :)

Also, make sure to wish her a happy birthday today! (@actionchick on Twitter)


For the uninitiated, how did you first get into the blog/comic world?

It's all about Rambo, baby! After watching the amazing action in Rambo IV and getting quite a few bewildered looks from guys when I rented it from the store, I decided I wanted to share the action with the world from a female perspective. So I wrote a review on my friends website, rocketllama.com. I received great feedback about the article series, and after awhile I branched off into my own website.

What was the first action flick you ever saw? Did you immediately fall in love with them or was that something that took time?
The first action film I can remember watching all the way through was Die Hard 3. I think I was around 11 or 12 and I loved it. Even before then, I was always trying to watch whatever my brothers and dad were watching which was action/war films, but they always made me leave the room like responsible parents should. I guess my persistence of coming back several times during the film made them give up when it came to Die Hard. From there my love of action films grew over time.

After movies, what is your next biggest pop culture obsession?
Video games!!!

Obligatory question: Favorite action heroine from the cinema?

Milla Jovovich is my favorite, but I have to say Angelina Jolie is quickly rising on my list.

Who is your favorite action hero on tv (male or female)?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer! She is super badass, always steps up to a challenge, and throws in witty banter to top it all off.

Books or Comic books? If you were given $1000 to spend only on items that you can read, what would you spend the majority on?

I would spend that money on graphic novels. I do read some comic books but I prefer to have a longer story all in one novel. I would get inpatient waiting for the next issue of a comic book so graphic novels it is.

To steal a question from your recent interview with the Geek and Gamer Girls, what is the nerdiest thing someone would find upon first entering your house/apartment?

That would be my Bayonetta action figure which is standing right next to my Optimus Prime action figure. I proudly have them on display near the entrance of the house so that everyone can know they are entering a geek's house.

In 2009 you were named G4's Next Woman of the Web. How did that come about and how did that change things in your life both online and off? What do you think of the fact that there is a special label for the next woman of the web but they don't have a label for the next "Man of the Web?" (ie, lets delve into a lil gender stuff :))

The G4's Next Woman of the Web contest was mentioned to me through twitter. I had looked into it before but didn't really get interested in entering the contest until there was a lot positive feedback through twitter. So I slapped together a video in about 3 days and sent it in.
The biggest thing I learned from the contest was how many great online friends I have! Everyone on twitter and facebook all joined together and were promoting me, writing articles campaigning for me, and then voting for me. It was amazing the amount of support there was. Now, I definitely have received more online recognition from the contest which has lead to other kinds of writing offers, photoshoots, etc.
As far as the "Man of the Web" goes, I think there should be one! However, it all boils down to this: There are mostly men in the top positions of companies and fans of G4, and dudes don't want to look at other dudes (for the most part) in sexy outfits. Women are sexy beings and probably get more ratings than a "Man of the Web."

Describe your first Comic Con experience. Did you feel you were treated any differently because you were a woman? Did it effect your enjoyment of the weekend? Did you dress up?

My first comic con I went to was Wonder Con in San Francisco. I was very overwhelmed at how many people were there and by how much stuff was there. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. Now I feel like I'm a pro. During my first con, I was too overwhelmed by everything to even think about putting together a costume for myself. I was shocked by seeing how many people were dressed up, but after having been to so many cons it all seems normal. I'm glad I started with Wonder Con instead of going straight to San Diego Comic Con. My head might have really exploded!

I don't feel like I was treated any differently at Wonder Con because I was a woman. My guy friends did tell me that people were looking at me funny, and for all I know I could have had toilet paper hanging from my shoe.
However, at this year's New York Comic Con I was trying to play Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and I was with a guy friend of mine. We stood behind two guys playing and after a match they looked at us and one guy moved and motioned for my friend to play. The other guy just looked at me and kept playing. That's okay, I was playing nice and thought I could wait another turn. When my friend got done, he stepped back to let me play but then another dude stepped in. We were both so agitated I just decided to leave rather than get banned from the con for kicking someone's ass. It seemed like they assumed I didn't want to play because I was a girl, and I was just there as arm candy. Well, this is 2010 people, girls play video games too!

Now onto the random, fun birthday questions!

Best birthday present ever?
Seriously, I'm going to say the Elmo Snuggie I got this year! One of my friends was jokingly saying he was going to get me a snuggie for my birthday. I said if I was going to wear a snuggie, then I wanted the most ridiculous looking snuggie they could
find. The big Elmo face is perfect.

Best birthday present of the future?
A role in the next Expendable film!

If you could have any action hero jump out of a cake for you, who
would it be? What would they say when they jump out?
Arnold Schwarzenegger and he would say, "It's not a tumah!"

What is the most ridiculous action hero stunt that you have seen in a movie and/or TV show that you tried to replicate?
A man sliding under an 18 wheeler truck bed on a horse. That stunt is from
a real movie people and boy does it look ridiculous. By the way, that
totally doesn't work in real life. The horse will just get super pissed and
storm off.

How many evildoers' asses have you kicked?
Over 9,000!

Serious question, what are some future/new things you are looking forward to doing with your website?
I look forward to putting out new youtube videos and expanding my Zombie
101 collection of videos. I hope to start adding reviews for a few other
mediums like video games, TV action series, and graphic novels.

What is the one career that you could never see yourself enjoying?
Being a nanny. KIDS! YUCK!

Running a website takes up a lot of time, obviously. If you weren't doing that (or if you could hire tons of minions to run it for you) what would you do with your spare time?
Play video games like a maniac, read a butt ton of comics, and travel to
every comic con/nerdy convention there is.

Guilty pleasure TV show?
The Girls Next Door (sigh) I'm ashamed of myself.

If/when you run your own action hero team (ala A-Team or Expendables),
who would you absolutely need on the team if you were fighting to rid
the earth of vampires? Zombies?
Vampires: Buffy the vampire slayer and the Scooby gang, Van Helsing
Zombies: Still Buffy the vampire slayer and the Scooby gang, Alice from
Resident Evil, and Bruce Campbell

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ACTION FLICK CHICK!