Lighten Up #119: Kendall Ashley

Lighten Up with Melanie Dale

Today as part of our "lighten up about pop culture" series, I'm talking with my friend and freelance editor and writer Kendall Ashley about fandoms, from Nancy Drew and Harriet the Spy to Battlestar Galactica and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm gonna go ahead and put it out there that Kendall and I are both huge nerds, and by that I mean we are so super cool and you should be jealous of our combined knowledge of monster lore and wizarding prowess. We get downright emotional about Star Wars. We talk about fans policing other fans, when writers makes choices we don't like, I'm looking at you Game of Thrones, breaking up with fandoms, how we're indoctrinating our kids into our fandoms...bingeing Supernatural, Firefly, movies that made us cry, and adult Dungeons & Dragons. We chat about our first fandoms that we ever really got into and when we first discovered we were big nerds. I regret that I didn't even get to my obsession with Doctor Who, but Kendall blew my mind, rendering me speechless, speechless I say, with her perspective on Hayden Christensen as emo teen Anakin Skywalker. Throw on your favorite cosplay, grab your Funko collection, listen in, and lighten up!

Links from the show:

• Visit Kendall's site
• Check her out on Twitter
• Harriet the Spy
• Nancy Drew
• 10 Ways Buffy Taught Me to Battle the Forces of Darkness