This song was a lot more fun when I thought Salt n Pepa were singing it to my generation… So there we were in rush hour, driving down the Long Island Expressway, and from the eleven year old in the back seat comes the question: “So, Mom, if guys can get erections, I’m wondering, does […]
Continue ReadingIf you have kids, I imagine it’s impossible not to know who Dora the Explorer is, even if you haven’t seen the show yourself, because she seems to be absolutely everywhere. Kai-lan is a newer entry in the genre, introduced …
Continue ReadingBen 10, Dora the Explorer, In the Night Garden, Power Rangers, Charlie & Lola. All great shows for the kids – entertaining, even educational at times, and we all need the little break from the 24/7 they afford us every …
Continue ReadingThe Parselmouths perform at WrockStock 2007 (Image via Wikipedia) We humans are slaves to the cyclical nature of our environment. The movement of the tides, the changing of seasons, hell, even sweeps week help to define the carefully choreographed dance …
Continue ReadingThe geeks are well on our way towards inheriting the earth. We are no longer looked upon by society with the general disdain we felt directed our way only a decade ago, and the outright antipathy we felt only two decades ago is gone. So now we’ve got, among other things, a somewhat geeky president […]
Continue ReadingWhy is it that more than thirty years after the first movie hit theaters, Star Wars continues to spark debate over its appeal to children, whether it is appropriate material and whether George Lucas’ empire exerts too much influence? You may have caught an article by Emily Bazelon in Slate over the weekend, titled "May […]
Continue ReadingLast week, the venerable media tome Entertainment Weekly published a list titled 20 All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture. As with any list of this kind, everyone with an opinion and a keyboard will take issue with some item or …
Continue ReadingI’ve seen mention of Geek or Nerd merit badges before, but now Adafruit will be providing some limited edition merit badges to show off your skills. The soldering badge pictured is first in the queue. Future plans include badges for Arduino, LEDs (with conductive thread and working LEDs), Open source hardware, and Laser cutting. Given […]
Continue ReadingImage via Wikipedia I’m headed for Wondercon in San Francisco today, and while I have a couple interviews planned (and the West Coast premiere of the new Wonder Woman animated movie to watch), one of the coolest parts of a con like this are the celebs who are there to speak at forums and sign […]
Continue ReadingMy daughter is coming up on her ninth birthday this weekend. We’ve had some pretty cool parties for her in the past- ones held at our local children’s museum and at the aquatic center were two in particular that were pretty fun, and last year was outdoors at a ranch. This year, Natasha decided that […]
Continue ReadingMonday marks the second year of Ontario’s annual Family Day statutory holiday. Brought into being in 2008 by the provincial Liberal government, Family Day was intended to break up that long period between the Christmas and Easter holidays, with an emphasis placed on families spending quality time together (thus the name). It was controversial from […]
Continue ReadingSeeking to fill a perceived need for an adult hackerspace in the Twin Cities area, a guy named Paul Sobczak has created Twin Cities Maker, a forum to discuss founding such a space. Twin Cities Maker was created to spark the discussion about creating a maker shop in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in Minnesota A […]
Continue ReadingI’ve been reading all the posts (like this one and this one) on President-elect Barack Obama with a great deal of interest and perhaps a slight tinge of jealousy. As a Canadian, I don’t have a direct stake in what goes on in the US, although everything does have a substantial ripple effect North of […]
Continue ReadingGeeky musicians Paul and Storm have created what might be the ultimate showdown of ultimate geek destiny: …as the first geek President, Barack Obama would do well to reward this important and influential constituency by creating a new cabinet post: the Secretary of Geek Affairs. And it’s up to YOU (the collective you, that is) […]
Continue ReadingIf you’re a regular GeekDad reader, you know that we don’t toot our own horn that often. But we, and specifically I, got an awesome Christmas/Hanukkah present from Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press: a wire story mentioning GeekDad, with several quotes from me. Two days after Election Day, I wrote an article for GeekDad […]
Continue ReadingImage by Simon Davison via FlickrBeing a geek is both time-consuming and expensive, and being a gamer-geek even more so. Sadly, with our economy in perpetual shambles, the latter seems to have become an even more difficult issue than the former. So how’s a gamer supposed to afford new titles as well as incidentals like, […]
Continue ReadingTED just posted a talk by John Hodgman (of pretty-much-everything fame, but most notable as "PC") that should cut straight to the heart of any geek. I could say that it involves lost time, aliens, a summer day, tourism, Liberians, the reliability of buses, and true love, but that wouldn’t do it justice. Just watch […]
Continue ReadingOn Sunday, November 2nd, The North Orange County Harry Potter Meetup Group will be leading the celebration of the Second Annual Unofficial Harry Potter Day at Disneyland. Activities include the requisite Potter-esque costuming, a park-wide scavenger hunt, and late-night libations …
Continue ReadingApart from straight teeth perhaps, "genius" is probably one of the most envied of human qualities. Certainly modern parents have been known to overstate their child’s brain power once in a while, as fellow GeekDad Matt Blum revealed last month. But even still, it is Nobel Prize season once again where the rewards of genius […]
Continue ReadingIf the Penny Arcade Expo has a star, it’s not Gabe or Tycho. It’s not special guests like MC Frontalot or Wil Wheaton. It’s not even veritable champions of nerdery like PAX ’08 Omegathon winner Joey Gecko. No, it’s geeky culture itself. And when we gather to celebrate our own, wackiness invariably ensues. Much of […]
Continue ReadingShaun of the Dead Put away the pitch-forks for a minute. Okay, several minutes. Okay, just put them away completely. Let me explain. We’re doing "Bad-Dad" this month, anyway, right? I originally showed this movie to Mrs. Geek, who is as squeamish as they come when it comes to gore and blood. She loved it. […]
Continue ReadingCredential checks can happen to anyone, at anytime. The other day my fiancée messaged me, "Do you know what AT-AT stands for? Don’t look it up!" Wondering why she would bore me with such an easy question, I replied back "All Terrain…uh.." My mind went blank. Sweat began to ball up on my brow. […]
Continue ReadingImage via Wikipedia "Batman: Gotham Knight" Warning: this is not the usual Bruce Timm production (though Kevin Conroy was hired for the Bat-Voice). The animation style is completely different. It is much more a work of Japanese anime than a work of American animation. I confess, I’m not an expert of anime, so I didn’t […]
Continue ReadingIf you’re a geek, you probably get a little jittery when you’re away from the web for more than a couple of hours. If you have an iPhone, you’ve proven my point. If you don’t have an iPhone, then you want one, so again my point is proven. If you don’t even want an iPhone, […]
Continue ReadingThis is an idea I had, to try something new. The primary inspiration is obvious: thank you, Mr. Foxworthy. The secondary inspiration was a list posted on the WWSoT (World Wide Series of Tubes) called "You Might be a Redneck Jedi". I thought I’d inject some humor to the blog, and with Ken’s permission, added […]
Continue ReadingImagine gathering in one place dozens of the local — and not so local – geekerati. Picture an assembly of artists, technicians, designers and engineers. Hobbyists, tinkerers, and the geeky-by-trade. Young and old, men and women of every stripe, their only common trait a drive to build and create. What could draw this crowd together? […]
Continue ReadingMany of us remember watching movies and feeling unease (and in many cases straight up terror) when we just didn’t "get it." The thought occurred to me when my son who fast forwards past the first forty-five minutes of Return of the Jedi couldn’t wait to see what the sarlacc pit looked like in Lego […]
Continue ReadingSorting through the accounts of last weekend’s Nerdapalooza festival in Orlando is a bit like watching Kurosawa‘s Rashomon; personal recollections vary greatly, and who, exactly, is telling the ultimate truth remains a mystery. In an event featuring some 32 acts performing roughly twenty-eight hours of music in the span of two days, I reckon that’s […]
Continue ReadingAn unfamiliar sales clerk smiled and chirped to me that the store would be hosting a midnight launch event. He was obviously excited by the prospect of picking up the game early and seemed sure I would be too. I smiled back politely. As he handed me my pre-order receipt, he asserted that he’d see […]
Continue ReadingThe 4th of July is drawing close, but even closer -tomorrow, as a matter of fact- is the 1st of July. And July 1st is celebrated here in the Great White North as Canada Day, our national birthday. Popular rumor has it that festivities include a Polar Bear ride, all-day hockey tournaments on our outdoor […]
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