Judgmental Overreactor Seeks Same (Geektastic 2.0)

My thoughts on the Alyssa Bereznak/Jon Finkel debacle.

I Heart: The Three-Legged Kitty Edition (Geektastic 2.0)

♥ I think all cat owners can relate to these glasses.

♥ I’m pretty fond of this snazzy fish-shaped cat food station!  (Love the green!)

♥ We have the CatIt water fountain and it’s awesome.  I highly recommend it for cat owners!

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

Darby Goes to the Doctor (Geektastic 2.0)

On Friday morning, we woke up bright and early and packed Darby in her pink carrier.  She wasn’t happy about being in the car and she let us know – loudly and repeatedly.  (Seriously, you would have thought we were burning her with red hot pokers!)  At 7:30 on the dot, we stood outside a mobile home in front of a church, filled out paperwork, and handed her over to a guy wearing scrubs and toe shoes.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

Geek of the Week: Edgar Wright (Geektastic 2.0)

Director Edgar Wright is best known for directing the “Blood and Ice Cream” trilogy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, as well as the film adaptation of Scott Pilgrim.  He began making films in the 80s and 90s, using a Super-8 camera.  Wright was a film buff since childhood and he was particularly fond of horror films – his favorite being the John Landis classic An American Werewolf in Paris.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

It Came From FearNet ... Devour (Geektastic 2.0)

Devour (2005)
Rated R for violence


Directed by David Winkler

Starring: Jensen Ackles
Shannyn Sossamon
Dominique Swain
William Sadler

Jake Gray (Ackles) heads to class on his 21st birthday after having several disturbing nightmares.  He’s had a pretty hard life.  His mother was paralyzed in a car accident and his father is a relapsed alcoholic.  Currently, he’s putting himself through school working in a strip mall computer repair shop and has a complete jerk of a boss.  When his friends Conrad and Dakota (Swain) introduce him to a weird live role-playing game, The Pathway, as an escape, Jake is intrigued.  Once someone begins playing The Pathway, they are called on their cell phone and given instructions.  Jake is fired because his boss wants to replace him with his fresh-from-jail pot-dealing nephew and he is only too happy to obey the voice on the other end of the line suggesting he gets even.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

I Heart: The Screeching Violins Edition (Geektastic 2.0)

♥ Celebrate being a horror movie lover (and really freak people out) by decorating your bathroom with this Psycho-inspired shower curtain and bath mat.


♥ Make your Bates Motel shower experience complete with the Blood Bath Shower Gel.  It’s cherry-scented!

♥ An excellent supercut of Hitchcock films.  How many can you name?

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

The Horror . . . The Horror! (Geektastic 2.0)

I’m frequently asked why I enjoy watching horror movies.  It’s a polarizing genre and it often gets a bad name from critics.  As with any fringe genre, however, horror fans are a dedicated bunch.


My parents (particularly my dad) were strict.  I wasn’t allowed to watch Rated R movies until I was 17 and, being a good kid, I I avoided disappointing my parents, but I was still fascinated by horror movies.  My mom was a horror and true crime fan and when my dad was overseas, she often rented scary movies.  Since I wasn’t allowed to watch them with her, I would beg her to explain the plots to me.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

Geek of the Week: Guillermo del Toro (Geektastic 2.0)

Mexican director Guillermo del Toro has been making movies since he was eight years old, using action figures doused with ketchup to mimic blood.  He was indoctrinated into the horror genre early on and cites the 1964 “Outer Limits” episode “The Mutant” as his first brush with true terror.  Fascinated with movie makeup and special effects, del Toro attended Dick Smith’s prestigious advanced makeup course.  He began working in films as a special effects makeup artist and formed his own SFX company, Necropia.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

The Genuine Article (Geektastic 2.0)

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a trend setter. If you are into fashion, that’s awesome. If you love discovering new bands – great. The problem arises when your whole life becomes about being cool or when you actively dislike something simply because it’s popular.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

I Heart: The Weird, Wild Stuff Edition (Geektastic 2.0)

♥ What is it about this knitting octopus?  Is it the top hat?  Is it his wide anime-style blue eyes?  Whatever it is, he’s adorable and nonsensical, all at the same time.

♥ It’s official – Japan has everything, including cat cafés where childless and petless people can enjoy the company of feline friends! [tweeted by Indy]


♥ I want to buy these purely so I can run outside and scream, “It’s people!  Soylent Green is people!”

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

Back to School (Geektastic 2.0)

Some kids have already been back in the classroom for awhile, but today marks the day when kids in my adopted hometown – Bellevue, NE – head back to school.  That also means that my mom is hard at work, teaching 1st graders.  Thank you to all the wonderful teachers who work so diligently to make sure we grow up to be intelligent, capable human beings!

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

Geeks of the Week: The RiffTrax Guys (Geektastic 2.0)

It’s weird for me to think of Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy as “The RiffTrax Guys”, because I grew up with them as fixtures of my Saturday morning television routine on “Mystery Science Theater 3000″.  By the time I was a regular viewer, the show had moved to SciFi and was hosted by Mike Nelson, with Corbett (“Brain Guy” and Crow T. Robot) and Kevin Murphy (Professor Bobo and Tom Servo) pulling double duty as live action characters and voices of Nelson’s bot companions.  Once the show ended in 1999, the guys went their separate ways, reuniting in 2007 to form The Film Crew, a straight-to-DVD series in which Nelson, Corbett, and Murphy provided mocking commentaries for B-movies.  They put out four films before moving on to create RiffTrax.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

Uncrafty: Duct Tape Rose Pens (Geektastic 2.0)

I am not crafty.  (Out of all my mom’s traits, how did I NOT inherit this one?)  I’ve tried various endeavors – failed cross-stitch pieces, an unfinished scrapbook with a few lonely wedding pictures, and a cake decorating class that I barely eeked through.  Ironically, my longest job was working at a craft store.  I was officially the least crafty person there when I could barely manage to put together the foam projects that were intended for children.  I did, however, learn to make duct tape rose pens.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

I Heart: The Space Stuff Edition (Geektastic 2.0)

♥ “Family Guy” creator Seth McFarlane is producing a sequel to Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” for Fox.  The series will be hosted by Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson and is scheduled to premiere in 2013.

♥ Fans of Sagan’s original series will love this “Star Stuff” T-shirt!

♥ If you can’t wait until 2013, check out Dr. Tyson’s weekly radio show, StarTalk Radio, on Sundays at 6 PM Eastern.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

Catch a Falling Star (Geektastic 2.0)

Meteor showers occur frequently throughout the year, but the upcoming Perseids are one of the most consistent.  (They routinely produce close to 60 meteors per hour at their peak.)

The Perseid meteor shower is associated with the Swift-Tuttle comet.  The name derives from the radiant of origin, which lies in the constellation Perseus.  This year, the shower will be most active on August 12th and 13th in the early morning hours.  Because the peak falls during a full moon, it is important to view the shower in a rural area to minimize light pollution.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

Geek of the Week: Professor Brian Cox (Geektastic 2.0)

Before Professor Brian Cox was an award-winning physicist and host of Science Channel’s “Wonders of the Universe”, he played keyboards for a British pop band called D:Ream.  While furthering his music career, Cox received several degrees in physics and began work on his PhD.

Read more here, on the new Geektastic!

Top Five: Essential MST3K Episodes (Geektastic 2.0)

With the latest RiffTrax LIVE coming up on August 17th, I thought I’d get those who still haven’t embraced “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ up to speed.  Here are the Top Five episodes everyone should watch:

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

This Means War (Geektastic 2.0)

I know we are all God’s creatures, but I’m having an issue with one in particular.
I like to think I have a clean kitchen. I hate dirty dishes enough to keep my sink clear, and I wipe down my counters daily – sometimes, multiple times in a day. I’m confused, then, when I see a line of ants crossing my floor . . . or more disturbingly, my counter.
Last summer, I’d occasionally encounter a small grouping of ants huddled around an errant crumb that went unnoticed on the floor. This year, however, the ants have migrated to milling around the counter, even with no food in sight.  That’s right, they’re taunting me.

Read more here at the new Geektastic!

Indoorsy (Geektastic 2.0)

Like Jim Gaffigan’s wife, I come from a family of campers.  They cover a wide spectrum, from the handful of relatives (including my dad) who would be happy to head out with a backpack, poop in a hole, and sleep out under the stars to those in the majority who enjoy sleeping in tents and are fine with using outhouses.  There is also a small section that prefer to stay in cabins, but still enjoy outdoor activities.  Then there’s me.  My idea of a good time is reading or watching movies in an air-conditioned facility, preferably with a cold drink close by.  The most enthusiasm I can muster for the outdoors involves looking at the stars.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

I Heart: The Bigger Boat Edition (Geektastic 2.0)

It's Shark Week, people!  Enjoy:

♥ I guess opposites really do attract.
♥ Use these fin salt and pepper shakers to season your next feeding frenzy.
♥ Your baby needs this bathrobe.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!

August Announcements (Geektastic 2.0)

Can you believe the new Geektastic! has been up for a month already?  If you’re a regular visitor, you’ve probably noticed a lot of changes.

Read more here, at the new Geektastic!