This summer’s Be the Artist series asks the question: “Who Made That?” The Item: The Haunted Mansion Wallpaper Since the summer of 1969, Disneyland Park’s Haunted Mansion has gone from being a popular new attraction to practically a lifestyle for theme park and horror fans. The thorough and beautifully crafted immersive quality of the ride […]
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This week, one of the most influential actors and musicians on the planet turned 69: Kermit the Frog. Jim Henson created Kermit’s earliest “prototype” in 1955 for the show called Sam and Friends, and throughout his rising stardom, Henson himself performed the voice of Kermit until his death in 1990. Today, it is hard to […]
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Being a mom is hard. Being a mom trying to raise a son who can overcome toxic masculinity is harder. If you ask movie star Zoe Saldana, she’ll remind you that “for many centuries, the domestic role for a woman was never even acknowledged as labor. When, in reality, it is the most important role […]
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This summer’s Be the Artist series asks the question: “Who Made That?” The Item: The Haunted Mansion Wallpaper Since the summer of 1969, Disneyland Park’s Haunted Mansion has gone from being a popular new attraction to practically a lifestyle for theme park and horror fans. The thorough and beautifully crafted immersive quality of the ride […]
Continue Reading
This week, one of the most influential actors and musicians on the planet turned 69: Kermit the Frog. Jim Henson created Kermit’s earliest “prototype” in 1955 for the show called Sam and Friends, and throughout his rising stardom, Henson himself performed the voice of Kermit until his death in 1990. Today, it is hard to […]
Continue Reading
Being a mom is hard. Being a mom trying to raise a son who can overcome toxic masculinity is harder. If you ask movie star Zoe Saldana, she’ll remind you that “for many centuries, the domestic role for a woman was never even acknowledged as labor. When, in reality, it is the most important role […]
Continue Reading
I run a Dungeons and Dragons game for elementary school aged kids at our FLGS using the Animal Adventures campaign setting from Steamforged Games. When I started this game, my players ranged from 1st graders to 5th. I had several dads at my table who played as well, one whose been playing for quite some time, […]
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The spring season with flowers, cherry tree blossoms, butterflies, and Easter eggs everywhere is quite beautiful, but also very “pastel.” The colors of spring are quite fetching and lovely, but they aren’t very gothic. If you’’re a little more into the Goth or “Easter-Ween” aesthetic, the colors of Spring decorations just don’t work. What if […]
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Hello my name is Sarah and I am a bookworm. Though of late, I am loving the social media trend that paints me as a book dragon, reading and hoarding books with equal merriment. What does a book dragon do after three weeks of illness in the house, where one parent was ill the whole […]
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My boys are now ten and thirteen. Some parents have a harder time connecting with their kids and their interests at these ages, but as a pretty geeky household, I think we have an easier time of it. Getting older just meant my kids unlocked certain geek hobbies a lot more than when they were […]
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St. Patrick’s Day approaches, and one of the legends surrounding him is how he stood on top of an Irish hillside and banished those pesky snakes form Ireland. Poor snakes! From the original Bible stories to current day to the Centers of Disease Control lists of venomous snakes, these slithery critters always get a bad […]
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One of my favorite things to do at conventions is checking out the Artist Alley and picking up fun stickers, artwork, or other items from independent artists. We’ve also gifted items picked up from here because they’re unique and not something your geeky friends will just run across in a brick and mortar store either. […]
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Be still my beating heart. The sixth and final book in the Pages and Co series from Anna James, The Last Bookwanderer, is released in the US on February 27, 2024. I have loved this series since I first opened the pages of Pages and Co: The Bookwanders in 2018 and met Matilda Rose Pages […]
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We are just a little more than halfway through February, and this week we have seen everything from Lunar New Year to Mardi Gras to Valentine’s Day… and are already in the midst of hurling our way to Easter. I’m not even going to include Super Bowl Sunday. I don’t consider that a holiday, but […]
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Last year, the Barbie movie may have been on the radar of many young people and teens, but my daughters are excited about the gothy ghoulish retro-tinged romance of Lisa Frankenstein. This love story between a teen girl and a reanimated corpse is out in time for Valentine’s Day, which makes it a perfect little […]
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I first encountered the Percy Jackson books in my English teacher days during the 2007-2008 school year. One of my reluctant readers admitted to me that he had read his SSR book during the weekend. “On purpose?” I had asked. “On purpose,” he had confirmed. “I’m going to need to know what that book was…” […]
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Many of us geeks love our tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder, and we often love recruiting new people to play with us whether it be friends, family, or our own kids. The thing is, these games take quite a bit to learn and master to the point where they can be really overwhelming […]
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One of the most important things I look for when selecting toys and books for my daughter is quality. As a toddler, she is still learning what it means to be gentle, which means that her belongings are often thrown, stepped on, chewed, dropped down the stairs… you get the idea. I am looking for […]
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Felicity is 8 years old the first time They appear to her. Led by their “queen’ Elfrida, they entice Felicity and welcome her into their fairy circle, showing her all the things she had dreamed of and never dared to hope for. In The Fair Folk by Su Bristow we follow 8 year old Felicity […]
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Every superhero struggles with the concept of identity. As readers and viewers, we connect with these stories because we have struggled to understand our place in the world and how we fit into the larger puzzle of humanity. As teenagers, we struggled to form our identities, either joining, drifting between, or feeling isolated from social […]
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Movie: The Family Plan PG-13 Action/Comedy Streaming on Apple TV+ Featured Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Michele Monaghan, Maggie Q The Family Plan, an Apple original film, is a fresh take on the assassin-transforms-into-a-normal-life trope. In most films featuring a former assassin, the hitman leaves his old world behind. He rebuilds his world with a new family, […]
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For many who celebrate Epiphany, January 6 is the official end of the Christmas and holiday season. Epiphany, or “Three Kings Day,” celebrates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child. (Not the “Baby Jesus,” as he was likely a couple of years old when they visited, but that’s neither here nor there.) No […]
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One of my favorite things to do when I have preschool storytime at the library is moving around and dancing. While this might sound strange–after all, aren’t we supposed to be encouraging kids to sit still and listen?–movement actually really helps keep kids focused and can also help with reading. Image: Melanie Meadors Movement is […]
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In the end, it was the simplest plastic toy that entertained us for the longest on Christmas Day and in the post-Christmas chaos, bringing joy to all of us from ages 8 to 72. Bluey: The Keepy Uppy Game was an instant hit this week, and instant hilarity ensued when we started playing. We are long-time […]
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I love Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, I play in one group that I joined in 2004, and I run two others for kids at our local gaming store. I think when I crossed into DMing is when I paid more attention to various D&D influencers and their projects because I saw them as additional […]
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Hey Parents, We’re about halfway through Elf of the Shelf season, which tends to be when a lot of parents start hitting a blank wall of what to do with their Elf. Earlier in the month, you had a bunch of ideas, but as the holiday season gets busier, and you get more tired, it probably […]
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Our house is a split-level. We have a baby gate at the top of the stairs, which is near our living room and kitchen, and therefore the heart of our home. One of my one-year-old daughter’s favorite activities is opening and closing doors. Can you see where this is going? Today—I kid you not—she spent […]
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Did you all remember to celebrate Krampusnacht on December 5th? “Krampus Night,” that time in Eastern European cultures (and now many other places around the world) held the night before the Feast of St. Nicholas. Krampus, who is everywhere now, is that big half man/half goat being with horns, fangs, and hooves. He wears longs […]
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First in my December series on little fun DIY Tree crafts. I have been seeing a Christmas tree meme circulating for at least ten years now, and I am finally going to give it a try on a smaller scale. Someone asked her boyfriend to make her a “cartoon” Christmas tree, but instead of decorating […]
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This December, I will share some fun DIYS centered around a common site during the month of December…Christmas trees. These trees are not only a common site in the real world, but many fictional Christmas trees are almost have personalities of their own. In anticipation of December crafting and the flood of holiday movies coming […]
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