Sometimes I watch this video and think “what have we done”. Sometimes I watch it and think “this is a masterpiece of pogo sticks and purple hair”. I flip flop back and forth pretty consistently, but regardless, the Dancing on Rainbows music video now exists – it’s a tangible thing in the world that you can watch, and it was a lot of fun to create.

For those in the dark, this is the music video that accompanies my web series Job Hunters. Job Hunters is a dystopian roommate comedy about college grads who are sent to fight others like them in an arena 9-5, then forced to live amicably with the survivors in the off time.

My character Avery is a washed up pop star who tries to make her comeback with a publicity stunt that involves briefly entering the arena — which fails miserably and leaves her stuck in the Maewin system for the rest of the show. This song was her one-hit wonder.

Job Hunters took up a huge chunk of my life and I learned so much having been part of it. I made life-long friendships, met Joe and learned a lot about myself because of this show. I hope you guys have enjoyed everything we’ve created under the heading of this project, and again, I sincerely want to thank everyone who ever backed one of our two kickstarters for helping make this whole thing possible. If you’re interested in downloading this track or other music from Job Hunters, you can do so here.

Dancing on Rainbows is bizarre, ridiculous and a little on the crazy side, but it’s fun. It’s Job Hunters. It’s Avery. And I love it.

I can’t believe how close we are to VidCon. Deep breaths, Kristina. Deep breaths.

I wanted to write up a quick little post to let you know everything I am doing at the con, since there’s a lot of it. From panels to meetups to running a convention-wide game — I’m gonna be busy! But as usual, I love meeting you guys, so please feel free to come up and say hello! And scan my QR code… but I’ll get to that later.

Here’s my official schedule:

 FRIDAY JUNE 27:

Striving to be Sustainable (206AB): 3:30-4:30pm
Making millions off your web series sounds nice, but for most creators, just the idea of making a living off your content — consistently, and without going crazy — is enough of a dream. What’s the secret to balancing life and work in the web video world on a long-term basis?

SATURDAY JUNE 28:

Job Hunters Cast & Crew (209): 12:30-1:30pm
 Join the cast of Job Hunters for a Q&A after a screening of not 1 but THREE episodes of the new season of their web series. Then stick around for announcements and fun surprises!

SUNDAY JUNE 29: (Disneyland Day!)

I’ll be hanging at Disneyland with everyone else, but what I really want to share with you guys is the Disneybound meetup I’m co-hosting with my friends Sarah, Leo and Joe. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I hope you’ll plan to join us if you’ll also be at Disney that day.

The last important thing to note is VidCon Arena — the convention-wide game Job Hunters is hosting. You’ll be receiving a QR code sticker in your VidCon bag once you get to the convention, and if you want to play you just need to stick it to your name badge. Then you’ll need to hunt down other players with their own QR codes, Job Hunters arena style. Rack up points and the top winners will get to play LASER TAG with the cast of Job Hunters on Saturday in official Maewin jumpsuits – and they might win some other great prizes!

I’ll just let this video explain it to you:

Please let me know in the comments if you’re attending VidCon, and hopefully I’ll see you there! I am nervous and excited and I CAN’T WAIT TO GET THERE AHHH.

It’s here it’s here it’s here! Season 2 of my web series Job Hunters has been a long time in the making and we’ve finally launched Episode 1! It’s a huge sigh of relief for our entire team, as we hate making you guys wait just as much we know you hate waiting. The episode has already been extremely well received, however, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally be sharing this with you.

We have a bunch of news regarding what we’re doing at VidCon (most of our team leaves for the convention tomorrow!) so keep an eye out for those updates in the very immediate future!

Thanks for sticking with me on this, guys. It means so much to me. I hope you enjoy episode 1.

Emerald City Comic Con is this weekend and I couldn’t be more excited! This is definitely one of my favorite cons of the year – not only because it’s right here in my backyard (travel is so easy!), but also because it’s just totally fantastic. I’m going to be speaking on a few panels, exploring Artist’s Alley, and trying out my very first cosplay experience! If you’re also going to be there this weekend and you see me wandering around – please say hi! I’m pumped to get to meet some of you!

I’m only moderately busy at this convention, which should hopefully lead to a good mix of relaxing/hanging out and running around to get to things on time. In case you were curious where I’ll be at the con, here’s my personal schedule:

Friday: Nothing! A day totally to myself to hang out, walk around, meet people and go to panels!

Saturday: This is my big cosplay day. My roommate Eia and I are going as Anna and Elsa in their coronation dresses, and I am equal parts SUPER EXCITED and… a little nervous. If you see me walking around on Saturday, please feel free to talk to me or take a picture. We’re so pumped about these costumes and can’t wait to show them off.

I’ll also be on the following panels:

Makeup For Geeks at 3pm (Room 2B)
The geek-beauty channel I’m part of (OneUpMakeup) will be teaming up with Espionage Cosmetics and Atomic Cosmetics to talk makeup! It’s going to be a good one, with creative giveaways and fun geek banter – if you’re interested in makeup or beauty tips at all, I highly recommend attending!

The Couple The Games Together… at 5pm (Sheraton Issaquah Room – GAMING)
I am probably the most excited about this panel – Joe and I (along with three other fantastic geeky couples we know) will be talking about the trials and tribulations of being a couple that games together. I’ve never been on any panel like it, so it should definitely spawn some fascinating discussion about gaming with your s/o!

Sunday: Another relatively open day, thankfully! However, I will be at one event you won’t want to miss if you’re a fan of my web series…

Job Hunters Screening at 1pm (TCC LL2)
Season 2 is right around the corner, so why not prepare yourself by doing a re-watch of Season 1 with members of the cast and crew? We’re also going to be showing the teaser trailer for Season 2 on the big screen, which we’re pretty excited about. The space doesn’t allow for an official Q&A, but if you stick around after the screening and we’ll be happy to answer your questions – but no spoilers!

I’m also interested in attending the following events and panels (though I have nothing to do with them in any way… just a fan!)

Friday:

11:00am – Intro to Costume Craft and Cosplay [Room: TCC 302]

12:00pm – Cosplay Is For Everyone presents: Ani-Mia [Room: TCC 302]

2:00pm – ECCC presents Eliza Dushku [Room: MAIN HALL (6ABC)]

5:00pm – Punk Rock Business: A DIY Model to Releasing Your Own Tabletop Game [Room: GAMING (Sheraton Issaquah Room)]

6:00pm – ECCC presents Cary Elwes [Room: MAIN HALL (6ABC)]

8:00pm – Welcome To Night Vale Live Show and Thrilling Adventure Hour movie Sneak Preview [Room: MAIN HALL (6ABC)]

Saturday:

12:30pm – ECCC presents Andrea Libman [Room: HALL A (611-614)]

5:30pm – ECCC presents Cree Summer [Room: HALL A (611-614)]

8:00pm – NERDprov: The Return  [Room: HALL A (611-614)]

Sunday:

10:30am – Welcome to Night Vale: Turn On Your Radio and Hide [Room: HALL A (611-614)]

11:00am – IDW: The Super Secret Cartoon Network Panel [Room: TCC 301]

12:00pm – Feminism & Gaming  [Room: GAMING (Sheraton Issaquah Room)]

1:30pm – ECCC presents Jeremy Shada [Room: HALL A (611-614)]

4:00pm – ECCC presents Karen Gillan [Room: MAIN HALL (6ABC)]

Only a few more days! If you’re attending the convention, let me know in the comments below! Are you cosplaying? What are you most looking forward to?

Hello, lovely blog readers! This is my first post of the new year, and cheesy or no, I thought it relevant to do a bit of reflection.

2013 was an interesting year. It feels like I didn’t actually accomplish very much, but that’s mostly because I spent a LARGE majority of the year working on a project that still isn’t finished. Last year was the year of Job Hunters, and Season 2 is set to premiere in the next couple of months… so the accomplishments of my team will feel like a real tangible thing, you know, soon. Very soon. But! last year we managed to raise over $50,000 to make the second season of our show a reality, and that’s nothing to scoff about. I am so excited that we’re getting this close to the release of it, and I am even more pumped to imagine the looks on your faces when you get to see what we’ve created. I’m extremely proud of this project, and I really hope everyone loves it.

I also made a GAME in 2013! Jetpack Unicorn was an experiment in so many ways: in designing a game, in writing, in working with a company to realize a vision… Sometimes I totally forget it exists, because it felt so overshadowed by Job Hunters. But my game is currently available in local game shops all over the place and on Amazon! I think the whole experience is actually tied for largest accomplishment with kickstarting and filming my web series. Even if the only things I did last year were 1. make a game and 2. film a web series, I would still be ridiculously proud of myself. I threw every ounce of my creativity into these projects and for that, I had a very creatively fulfilling year.

But that’s not all I did last year! I also started this blog as another outlet for my writing and my thoughts, continued to cultivate and build the Team Hypercube community that’s come to be such an integral part of my life, and threw a badass Halloween party (the largest one I’ve ever “directed”). I helped raise over $2,000 for Extra Life with our 24 live stream, helped the Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck raise over $800,000 dollars with the Project 4 Awesome, and started my second rewatch of Battlestar Galactica, which I feel is extremely noteworthy and important to add to this list.

Each year I wonder how I will possibly top the one before it, and 2013 certainly set the bar high. I have a lot of plans and ideas for 2014, among them being learning to sew so I can start cosplaying, turning the new Answerly Book Club into a seriously awesome place for book nerds to hang out, and… well… you should just keep an eye on Team Hypercube. That’s all I have to say for now.

I hope the rest of you are standing at the edge of this new year with as much hope and energy as I feel right now! I know there’s a camp of people out there who think resolutions are stupid, but I don’t see any harm in starting the new year with a few goals. I would love to hear yours in the comments.

Thanks for sticking with me, guys. I’ll be updating much more regularly in the new year. xoxo

We started really working on Season 2 of Job Hunters back in February of this year. Our Kickstarter launched in March; we started filming in June – and now, on a swelteringly hot weekend in August, we are finally building sets for our final large shooting weekend.

Part of me feels like my entire life has become a constant stream of Job Hunters work, and it’s difficult to imagine there ever being an end in sight. The other part of me can’t believe how close we are to wrapping.

If you came to this post in search of spoilers, you clearly don’t know me very well. All I will say is that I spent a large portion of the day painting these massive panels (that had been used for something else in a previous shoot) this lovely green color. Ooooh there will be green paint in Season 2!? What does it mean!? Maybe our heroes take a visit to the Emerald City! Watch out for the poppies!

I’ve been in such a state of panic/constant forward movement/my dwindling amounts of free time being out of my hands that I really don’t even know what things are going to be like when every single weekend isn’t tied up with this show anymore. I’m getting flashbacks to high school, when your play would open and you suddenly didn’t have to spend every hour at rehearsal. There was always that element of not knowing what regular people do after school and relearning what the sun is. It projects heat… and light? And it’s free??

There’s still at least another full week before i have to start thinking about that transition though, so in the mean time, I’m going to continue making lists, casting extras, and memorizing lines. Although… bonus! I will leave you with this picture of myself, Liz and our Props Master Jenn from yesterday when our building day got slightly derailed:

What. Like you wouldn’t do the same thing if someone randomly had BATTLE BOTS in their garage.

Note: I considered doing an outfit of the day in honor of our work party, but how about this. Grab your oldest shoes, a shirt you’ve already mentally decided to get rid of, and the jeans you wore last time someone asked you to help them paint. Wa-la! You’re gorgeous.

The final day of a con always comes much too soon. After what felt like a literal SECOND of parties and panels and pitiful amount of sleep, the final day of VidCon reared its ugly head in a mocking tone, one that shouted directly in my hungover, sensitive ears, “Kristina! You haven’t even explored the Expo Hall yet!”

So Saturday was a blur. I had a signing at 10am, which I had to forcefully roll myself out of bed for. This is why all dresses and skirts and high heeled shoes were left in the suitcase in favor of flats and denim jeans. Don’t get me wrong – my signing was lovely. Two hours of meeting people who watch my videos, who enjoy Job Hunters, who wait with bated breath for the next episode of Dokapon Kingdom – I live for that. But there was a giant mechanical shark that could literally chew its way through a chair in the Expo Hall, and I hadn’t even gotten to see it yet.

Immediately after my signing we gathered the Job Hunters cast and hung out at the Wyrd booth for another hour – taking photos with fans and playing our Season 2 trailer on loop for anyone that’d missed it at the panel. THEN Joe and I played Jetpack Unicorn with a kickstarter backer named Cate Neuhauser who was so good at our game that it made us look bad.

Then, around 3pm (when the Expo Hall would be closing in a mere two hours) I finally, finally got to walk around, check out the booths and get free swag. I blazed through that room with the determination of a shopper on Black Friday. I called it the “photo both tour”, collecting as many silly photos with my friends as we could cram in these final hours. Not to mention a quick pitstop in the ball pit, as well as a small detour in some sort of robot music video.

I’ll be doing another post soon about my VidCon swag, so never fear! All aspects of this con will be covered on my blog! I had such a great time, and the Expo Hall this year really pulled out all the stops. I’m so impressed with how exponentially this little con grows each year, and I’m so happy I’ve been there every year to see it firsthand.

This is a super cheesy thing to ask, but if you attended VidCon 2013, what was your favorite part? The main stage? The concerts? The vendor room? Or was it something VidCon couldn’t plan for and put on a schedule, like meeting a certain YouTuber or getting to spend time with friends you don’t see very often? For me it’s meeting the people who watch my videos. The yearly reminder of why I do this is so special to me, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

This was my favorite outfit of VidCon this year – hence why I saved it for Friday, when I had both the 5AG and Job Hunters panels. This is my brand new galaxy skirt from ModCloth.com, as well as one of my favorite slouchy black blouses from non other than Target. Completed with a cute little golden grenade necklace given to me by my friend Liz (not sure where she got it, but here’s a similar set of pendants on Amazon).

The first panel of the day was the Job Hunters panel. We showed a special VidCon exclusive trailer and then had a talk-back/Q&A with a roomful of lovely fans.

We’ve had a VERY tight lid on pretty much all information about Season 2, so the panel was both hilarious (“We can’t answer that. We can’t answer that either”) as well as a bit relieving when we did decide to reveal a few choice details. The biggest of which is that Season 2 will not only have 12 full episodes, but it will also have 12 additional “mini-sodes” that will take place on the train recruits take to and from the arena each day. Oh yeah, and we showed the trailer a second time – though that was mostly because even most of the cast and crew had never seen it before that panel, and we were all very excited.

Next up was 5AG!

The Fiveawesomegirls panel was seriously the most fun I’ve ever had on a panel. We sat in day order, we answered questions – but mostly we spent our hour reminiscing about the three years we spent making videos together, rehashing old stories, talking about what it was like behind the scenes, and laughing. It was so, so lovely to see the faces of our diehard fans in the audience, knowing many of the people in the room had been watching our videos since 2008. It was all very surreal, very nostalgic, and very positive.

Friday of VidCon also contained the fantastic Women of YouTube meet-up hosted by Laci Green, Rosianna and Lex Croucher. What a wonderful idea, to have a roundtable discussion out on the grass; it went so excitingly well and I really, truly hope VidCon takes notice of the lengths female content creators had to go to just to be able to hold a pseudo panel.

Closed out the night with a Fiesta Movement party up the street and had a great time catching up with some of my fellow agents. I had some spinach and artichoke dip that was, if I dare say it, the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. All in all, Friday was a pretty stellar day.

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I recently received a vague email from Nordstrom. I have to say, one of the strangest things about being an online content creator lately is adjusting to the concept of conversing with companies as if they are sentient beings on our level of internet-dom. If you follow @TacoBell on twitter, you know what I’m talking about. Anyway, I got this email in my inbox, and it informed me that Nordstrom likes what I do online and wants to send me a gift in honor of their Anniversary Sale!

I figured hey, I can totally live in a world where people send ME presents for THEIR anniversary. So of course, I accepted.

A mere couple of days later, a box full of goodies appeared at my door:

In the box was:

• Bright pink Nike Free 5.0 running shoes
• Nail polish in “Mint condition”
• Hanky panky low rise undies
• Clear plastic beverage tumbler
• Canvas beach bag
• Cutesy magnets

Thanks, Nordstrom! Good luck with the #NSale, and I can’t wait to take these fierce new shoes out on the street! Good thing I’ve been putting off investing in good running shoes! 😉

This weekend is more Job Hunters filming; we’re actually finishing up one of my favorite episodes of the season this Sunday. Only a few more shoot weekends left… so crazy!

I’m curious, since this blog is so new… what kinds of posts are you more looking forward to or hoping to see? I’ve been out of the blogging world for so long that I’m really interested in your opinions!

VidCon is just around the corner, so I figured now would be a good time to give you all the low-down on what I will be doing there! I’m on a couple of panels – but I’ll mostly be hanging out, frequenting a couple of relevant booths, and saying hello to friends and fans alike! Just a warning… I’ve heard there will be something like 10,000 people attending this year – so please, feel free to say hi if you see but, but if I seem tired or in a hurry, just know I am doing my best to meet everyone and do everything!

These are my official panels/events:

1. Job Hunters Sneak Peek + Talkback / Friday, 11am-12pm
We’ll be showing some ACTUAL FOOTAGE of Season 2 (this will be the first time anything from the new season will be shown publicly) as well as doing a Q&A/talkback with all of the main cast. There also might be some other fun surprises or giveaways, so don’t miss it!

2. Fiveawesomegirls Reunion Panel / Friday 2-3pm
Seriously. Myself along with Lauren, Kayley, Hayley and Liane will ALL be in the same place for the first time since 2009, rolling dice and talking about 5AG! For those diehard fans out there who always wanted us to bring back 5AG.. this panel is for you. Bring your friends and your cameras, because YOU’LL be interacting with us at this panel as well as watching us speak!

3. italktosnakes Signing Line Appearance / Saturday 10am-12pm
I’m not sure exactly what this will look like, but I’m they’ll have me sitting at a table, and people will be able to line up to come say hi, chat, and have me sign things? If you definitely want to make sure we meet at VidCon, this is probably your best bet. Please stop by!

I will also be hanging around the Wyrd Games booth (#617) in some of my down time, both to help promote my new game Jetpack Unicorn, and because that’s where Job Hunters merch will be. Speaking of Job Hunters merch, we miiight have badge ribbons this year, so be on the lookout for myself or other actors from the show if you want to wear your Job Hunters pride right on your VidCon badge!

We’ll ALSO have some sweet Safe House and Maewin themed postcards on hand at the Job Hunters/Wyrd booth… for just $2, you’ll be able to write to a friend at home and we’ll do the sending of the postcard for you! It’ll be like you’ve joined the hunt!

And now, I’ll just leave you with this adorable graphic Lauren Fairweather made to promote the 5AG reunion. It’s going to be a BLAST.

I can’t wait to get down to Anaheim, but there’s so much to do before then! Are you going to VidCon? If so, what are you most excited to do there?