It is widely accepted that Star Wars has influenced art and pop culture since A New Hope was released in 1977, but what if it was able to influence art that predates the movie itself. Star Wars Art: Visions, aims …
Continue ReadingUntil your kids turn three, the most important lesson that board gamer parents can teach is how not to choke on dice. But once they’ve mastered that, it’s on to real games. Trouble is, there aren’t a lot of interesting …
Continue ReadingI’m not going to lie: I wasn’t a big fan of the first Dungeons and Dragons movie. Part of it was that I saw it all by myself, during my first semester away from home at college, and I was …
Continue ReadingIt’s been a great year for GeekDad, and we want to thank all of you, our readers. This blog is in no small part a labor of love for us, and we’re always very gratified when our words have some …
Continue ReadingA handful of years ago I lived in Utah with four school-aged kids. My sister visited us from Dallas with her three school-aged kids. The oldest in the group was 13, the youngest was three. We happened to be together …
Continue ReadingThat’s a strange New Year’s resolution, I know, but a couple months ago I saw a TEDxKC Talk that got under my skin and has been rattling around my brain ever since. It’s a talk called “The Price of Invulnerability” given by Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College […]
Continue ReadingReady for the new year? Here are a few bits of news from Dark Horse Comics to help you start off the new year right! First up: Axe Cop! Everyone’s favorite axe-wielding, shades-wearing public servant has made the jump from …
Continue ReadingI’m saddened to inform all ye who cling to the age-old symbol of feminist power, that your mascot has passed away. Geraldine Hoff Doyle died at age 86 on December 26th in Lansing, Michigan. If you haven’t the foggiest idea who that is, shame on you. OK, not really. I didn’t know who it was […]
Continue ReadingCelebrate the slacker way.
Continue ReadingA handful of years ago I lived in Utah with four school-aged kids. My sister visited us from Dallas with her three school-aged kids. The oldest in the group was 13, the youngest was three. We happened to be together the week of New Year’s so we decided to make it a big kid celebration. […]
Continue ReadingMy pre-schooler is a good sleeper. Last New Year’s Eve I tried to let her stay up to ring in the new year. She was passed out solid by 10 pm. So I and a few of my friends hit the drawing board. My daughter is still young enough I have time to formulate new family […]
Continue ReadingThe app space is overflowing with math-related apps for preschoolers and early elementary. Shapes, counting, very simple addition. There… are… so… many… Sigh. But what about older kids? They love to play with technology, too. And making learning more fun …
Continue ReadingI have had a love/hate relationship with end-of-year “Top Music” lists. At their best, they’re insightful, helping me save time and money by sorting through the morass of music out there and singling out the experiences I might enjoy most. At their worst, though, they are akin to a retelling of someone else’s dreams: abstract, […]
Continue ReadingHere at GeekDad, we do tend to feature many items for the boys. As part of my New Years Resolution, I am going to be more fair to both of my children when it comes to showing interest in their …
Continue ReadingIt’s that time of year again, when old calendars hit the recycling bin and humans hit the gym. Yes, brace yourself for the annual flood of blog posts demonizing food and canonizing exercise. Or, as I prefer to call it, the season of shrinky self-destruction. But this New Years Resolution post is not like the […]
Continue ReadingThis has been the week for holiday celebrations. It is one of traditions and monumental moments for our family. It’s filled with tradition because for the twelfth or thirteenth year we did what we always do on Christmas Eve. It …
Continue ReadingThe week-long window to enter the GeekDad giveaway of a Nikon Coolpix P7000 camera ended yesterday, and this morning a winner was chosen! The winner is … Mike Gurganus of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina! There were over 4300 valid entries …
Continue ReadingIn school we learn lots of dry facts about our presidents. We learn when they took office, if they were assassinated, major decisions they made, how they fought wars. But what of their personalities and home life? What did they …
Continue ReadingChristmas is gone, so why am I bothering with a Christmas post? Now is the time of year that even the most die-hard Christmas fans begin to allow those God-awful Christmas car commercials to get to us. We want them to end. We are pondering taking down the tree and trying to figure out whether […]
Continue ReadingToys that are secretly alive, with emotions and desires and fears. A mob boss-like villain who rules over a bunch of castaway toys with cruel efficiency. Daring escapes, close calls, last-minute saves and a climactic double-cross at the city dump. …
Continue Reading(You may not think this a geeky topic, but we’ve all experienced relationships, so the theme of making relationships work is pretty universal.) Lynn Rasmussen, the same person who helped to bring us the math apps Arithmaroo, MathGirl Number Garden, and MathGirl Addition House, has written a book called Men Are Easy. It’s not what […]
Continue ReadingI was driving my ’58 Plymouth Fury on a long trip out of Boulder, Colorado to a strange town in Maine, when I stopped at a hotel along the way for a needed caffeine boost. A man in glasses and …
Continue ReadingThe other night I was inspired to cook. This isn’t unusual. I’m sort of an accidental scientist in the kitchen; I love to experiment with new recipes. Usually, I’m pretty good at it. However, since becoming a mom I frequently underestimate how much time and effort some culinary procedures can take. In this case it […]
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I was driving my ’58 Plymouth Fury on a long trip out of Boulder, Colorado to a strange town in Maine, when I stopped at a hotel along the way for a needed caffeine boost. A man in glasses and a way with words came over and asked, “So, what do you know about percentile […]
Continue ReadingMy eldest son handed me Kurozakuro from a stack of review copies I received from Viz last month. He said it was like a reverse Spider-Man and, after reading it, I think he’s right. Summary: All kind and gentle Mikito …
Continue ReadingAside from my score of vintage Star Wars action figures, the geeky gifts were lean this year at our Christmas, though there was one geek milestone that occurred. My daughter completed her first Lego set. She had those big Duplo blocks as a baby, but had never shown much interest then or later on. While […]
Continue ReadingThe end of the year is typically a time of reflection — in other words, a perfect time for some more navel-gazing. Without further ado, here’s some of mine. I’m a stay-at-home dad. I’ve mentioned it plenty before, but I …
Continue ReadingFrom fabric-store fur to Lee press-on nails, werewolf transformations on film have a checkered past. Movie versions of the werewolf metamorphosis usually rely on the actors to stare wide-eyed at their furry hands and creepy nails and emit panicky, mortified …
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From fabric-store fur to Lee press-on nails, werewolf transformations on film have a checkered past. Movie versions of the werewolf metamorphosis usually rely on the actors to stare wide-eyed at their furry hands and creepy nails and emit panicky, mortified screams, although not nearly as convincing as the ones that must have escaped them at […]
Continue ReadingThree GeekDad icons share a birthday today! Stan Lee, born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1922, is the creator of Spider-Man and former head of Marvel Comics. Lee is almost as well-known as his famous comic book heroes, making …
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