Staff Profile #1: Neoplasmic (also known as Keona), Site Founder & Podcast Host
Greetings, all! As the founder of this brand-spankin’ new website, Renegade Pop Culture, I figured you’d all want to know something about me and my particular interests. Here goes:
I was born on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but I recently left that paradise for the sunny, non-mountainous terrain of Florida. Through nearly all of my 38 years and eleven months of existence (at the time of this writing), I’ve been intrigued by video games and the culture surrounding them, comic books and the artistry that goes into producing them, and movies and television shows. I’ve been a comic book reader since the age of five, and a video game player since the age of seven. I still remember the first comics I’d ever seen, a couple of digest-sized (i.e. smaller than usual), reprinted Amazing Spider-Man stories that featured astonishing black-and-white artwork by John Romita and some spectacular scripting by Stan “The Man” Lee! It was my gateway into the realm of imaginative and inspiring superhero stories, and my love for the medium has not abated since!
The first video games I ever played were in a family arcade called Showbiz, which was located a few miles away from my childhood home. This was in the 1980s, so games were simplistic and graphically crude compared to today’s PC and console titles, but they were so much fun! Addictive, even! The first games I ever loved were both developed by a company called Konami, and consisted of an old-school, single-screen beat-’em-up called Kicker, and a side-scrolling shoot-’em-up called Gradius. I also really enjoyed playing Pac-Man (who doesn’t?), and I had a special place in my heart for Q*Bert and Dig Dug, along with Spy Hunter and Star Wars.
Speaking of which, my love for movies and sci-fi/fantasy can both be attributed to the Star Wars franchise. Though I wasn’t around for A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back when they first came out, and I was a two-year-old infant when Return of the Jedi hit theaters in 1983, these films became a huge part of my life growing up, and the imaginative settings and characters continue to inspire me and give me joy to this day! Star Wars is a huge part of my life, and I hope to convey that through our podcasts and articles going forward!
Well, that’s my profile in a nutshell. See you around, Renegades!
Neoplasmic (aka Keona) - Founder and Editor
