Exclusive: Whenabouts Kickstarter Ups the Ante for Tween Storytelling
The Whenabouts Kickstarter project uses mailed artifacts, a diary, videos and online puzzles to create a story aimed at tweens.
Continue ReadingAuthor: Erik Wecks
See Sarek Ignore Spock Live at Portland’s Trek in the Park
Feeling a need to get your Trek on but don’t want to stay indoors on a beautiful summers day? Portland, Oregon, theater troupe Atomic Arts has the perfect solution.
Continue ReadingYour Child Can Be a Martian at JPL’s Mars Exploration Website
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Exploration Program site offers Curiosity updates, media, and activities through which children and adults can explore Mars.
Continue ReadingGood Board Games Are Hitting Target, But Are They Missing the Point?
Last month Mayfair Games announced that they would be introducing Star Trek: Catan at Gen Con to be sold exclusively at Target. Then, as Dave Banks told you on this site last week, Geek & Sundry announced that they had …
Continue ReadingPeter Jackson, Please Film The Silmarillion: A Fan’s Open Letter
The Silmarillion offers more epic filmmaking than The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings combined. One fan thinks Peter Jackson should take up the challenge.
Continue ReadingStunning Cloud Atlas Trailer
Every once in a while a movie trailer comes along that makes me want to read the book. I think the thing that impressed me about this six minute trailer for Cloud Atlas is the way the studio hasn’t folded …
Continue ReadingThe Spiel des Jahres for 2012
The dog days of summer are here, and those of you who are cardboard enthusiasts might be looking for something new to play on a warm summer evening, you’re in luck. The Spiel Des Jahres were just announced recently in …
Continue ReadingA Maker in the World of Animation: Nelson Lowry
The production designer for ParaNorman talks about his obsession with Lego and how stop motion animation has changed in the last 15 years.
Continue ReadingGoing Shogun: Comic Fiction Plus Dystopia Equals a Great Summer Read
The story is all candy coated comic goodness, which will keep you laughing out loud and reading at breakneck speed to keep up with the adventure.
Continue ReadingCan Gaming and Creating Social Good Mix?
On June 21st I had the privilege of moderating a conversation among game designers, non-profit organizations, and other interested parties in Portland Oregon on what we could do to use electronic and cardboard games to create social good.
Continue ReadingBrave Is Bad Storytelling for Boys and Girls! (Spoiler Free)
Brave is lazy gender making of the worst sort.
Continue ReadingSpace Opera Without Explosions: Nathan Lowell’s Solar Clipper Series
Lowell is a master of getting us to care about his characters without having to resort to melodrama, and in science fiction that is a rare feat indeed.
Continue ReadingWhat to Do When Settlers Isn’t Enough: Part 2
After trying or purchasing a number of games on this list, you can develop your own tastes and start to have an idea of what you want when you walk in the doors of your local game shop.
Continue ReadingWhat to Do When Settlers of Catan Isn’t Enough
How do you sort through the clutter and find games that you will enjoy? Here are three ways to find out about great games…
Continue ReadingGovernment Physicists Answer Your Questions on Twitter Today at 2PM Eastern
Government physicists will be chatting on Twitter this afternoon at 2PM Eastern.
Continue ReadingDavid Pogue Goes Hunting the Elements And Makes The Best Chemistry Video for Kids
For parents and teachers wanting to raise curious children, Hunting the Elements is an amazing tool which shouldn’t be missed.
Continue ReadingIntroducing Story Realms: An Interview With Game Designer Angela Hickman Newnham
Story Realms is a storytelling game which seemed to find the Goldilocks zone in just about every way.
Continue ReadingAFOLs Assemble!
Lego maniacs are getting together at the Portland Convention Center to display their wares, trade parts, and hobnob with other AFOLs.
Continue ReadingSo What Does It Mean to Be a Geek?
One of the great reasons to identify with the word “geek” is that it gives you permission to like what you like no matter what it is. Many of us self-identify as geeks because we have been put down, excluded, …
Continue ReadingKeep Those Solar Glasses Handy
On June 5th or 6th much of the planet will be able to watch Venus move across the face of the sun.
Continue ReadingHow to Watch Today’s Solar Eclipse Without Special Equipment
A pinhole projector provides a simple DIY way to view the eclipse without special equipment.
Continue ReadingA Reminder that Hayao Miyazaki Isn’t the Only Director at Studio Ghibli
Isao Takahata’s Only Yesterday is a masterpiece of animated film demonstrating both the flexibility of the medium and the director’s genius.
Continue ReadingChasing the Moon: Absurdism With a Capital “A”
Chasing the Moon is an absurd bit of fun by A. Lee Martinez
Continue ReadingDoes Cory Doctorow Think The Matrix Got It Wrong?
Cory Doctorow’s new book The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow forces readers to ask whether they view new technology as mere change or as human progress.
Continue ReadingPancake Geeks?
Nathan Shields hand crafts pancake batter into true works of art.
Continue ReadingStudio Ghibli Film Festival in Portland, Oregon
The Northwest Film Institute is hosting screenings all month of Studio Ghibli films.
Continue ReadingCreative Director for The Banner Saga Talks Kickstarter, RPG Heroes, and Story in Games
This week I finally got an opportunity to sit down with Alex Thomas, Creative Director for The Banner Saga and discuss their outrageously successful Kickstarter campaign, the corporate game industry, Eyvind Earle, and storytelling in video games.
Continue ReadingNeal Stephenson Releases a Book Trailer That Mocks Book Trailers
Does anyone else find the idea of a book trailer a little odd? I do. Apparently I am not alone, so does Neil Stephenson author of Snow Crash.
Continue Reading67 Books Every Geek Should Read to Their Kids: A Printable List
he GeekDad community at Wired.com is committed to helping you raise geek generation 2.0. Back in March of 2012 we put out a post of our favorite books to read aloud to our kids before the age of ten. Well …
Continue ReadingMerchants: The Perfect Date-Night Card Game
My wife and I are known to break out a card game in the most unlikely places. Valentine’s day 2012 found us at our favorite local taco joint — Woody’s Tacos here in Vancouver, Washington — finishing off a plate …
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